[Memory clinic: a new special unit, basic principles and first experiences of its function].

Memory Clinic is a special unit of the National Institute of Psychiatry and Neurology in Hungary since January, 1992. Authors describe the methods of clinical investigation and the frames of therapy. In the first year 315 patients were examined, that underlines the authority of establishing such a special centre. A high proportion of the patients were in their active working period (age average were 55 years in the outpatient, and 56 in hospitalized patients). In the etiologic spectrum the organic cerebral lesions were the most frequent, but were not the only reasons. Depression was a very frequently observed associated symptom. The function of the new unit has interdisciplinary characteristics: modern organic examinations joined with psychotherapy-oriented therapeutic regime. There seems to have a chance for collaboration with other establishing Memory Clinics in the world.