Mental disorders in Huntington’s disease

untington’s disease (HD) is one of the most severe and fatal hereditary diseases of the nervous system. The paper outlines the history of studies of the disease, its key features and development mechanisms in terms of recent advances in molecular biology. The neuropsychiatric manifestations of HD, which are a major disabling factor, are characterized. Mental and emotional-volitional disorders are systematized; possible methods for correction of the clinical manifestations of HD are presented. A special emphasis is made on the fact that cooperation between different specialists and with a patient’s relatives is of importance in achieving the best treatment results. The authors present their experience in studying the psychopathological manifestations of HD at the Neurology Research Center, Russian Academy of Medical Sciences, and the results of an integrated study of cognitive and neuropsychological characteristics of at-risk asymptomatic HD gene carriers, by using a battery of psychological tests and the newest methods of electroneurophysiology and neuroimaging, and conclude that there is a preclinical disease stage. The authors’ experience with pharmacotherapy for neuropsychiatric manifestations and cognitive deficit in HD patients is described.