Wechsler Memory Scale performance of elderly psychiatric patients.

Examined the performance on the Wechsler Memory Scale of 50 elderly psychiatric patients with a functional illness and 50 with an organic brain syndrome. A significant separation of the two groups is observed, and the a-priori definition of abnormal memory impairment is found to be significantly associated with organic but not functional illness. It is concluded that the WMS is a useful test for the population despite its shortcomings in other areas.