'It's definitely not Alzheimer's': Perceived benefits and drawbacks of a mild cognitive impairment diagnosis.

As a clinical label, MCI appears to have little explanatory power for people living with cognitive difficulties. Work is needed to clarify how clinicians and patients communicate about MCI, and how people can be helped to live well with the label. Despite an emerging body of prognostic studies, people with MCI are likely to continue living with significant uncertainty. Statement of contribution What is already known on this subject? Mild cognitive impairment is a state of cognitive decline between normal cognitive ageing and dementia. This clinical category has been an important domain of academic debate over recent years. From a clinical perspective, diagnosing MCI is a helpful way to enable communication between health professionals, and a diagnosis can be important for patients in need of support and education. However, diagnosis can be fraught with difficulties, while patients have reported significant uncertainty about the label. This study aimed to examine the perceived benefits and drawbacks of receiving a MCI diagnosis. What does this study add? The emotional impact of a MCI diagnosis is complex and raised conflicting and fluctuating emotions in our participants' accounts - most notably worry and relief. Participants were glad to have clinical support available to call on; however, they were frustrated at the lack of 'treatments' available for MCI and were often anxious to slow any cognitive decline down Health psychologists will have an important role to play in understanding and improving clinical communication about MCI.