The word pseudodementia implies that the depression is primary and that the poor cognitive impairment is a concomitant aspect of the primary condition and the cognitive affective disorder implies that the cognitive disorder is primary and that the affective symptom is secondary. Some elderly patients with depression appear irreversibly demented but fully recover cognitively with successful treatment of the depression. Several studies demonstrate that approximately the half of individuals who present with both depression and cognitive impairment is cognitively intact on long-term follow-up and that the other half develops a permanent cognitive disorder. I review evidence that supports the existence of the entity, depression induced cognitive impairment (DICI).