Organic Mental Disorder Flashcards
What are organic mental disorders?
-Mental disorders that are due to common, demonstrable aetiology in cerebral disease, brain injury, or other insult leading to cerebral dysfunction
Primary - direct effect on brain
Secondary - systemic disease
What are some examples of acute/sub-acute organic mental disorders?
- Delirium
- Organic mood disorder
- Organic psychotic disorder
What are some examples of chronic organic mental disorders?
- Dementia
- Amnesic syndrome
- Organic personality change
What are some causes for delirium?
- Medications
- Drug abuse
- Withdrawal syndromes
- Metabolic disturbance
- Vitamin deficiencies
- Endocrinopathies
- Infections
- Neurological causes
- Toxins and industrial exposures
- Others
What are some potential pathophysiologies of delirium?
- GABAergic + Cholinergic Neurotransmitter systems
- Increased dopaminergic activity
- Neurotoxic effect of inflammatory cytokines
What are some environmental and supportive measures for treatment of delirium?
- Education of relatives, medical and nursing staff
- Make environment safe
- Optimise stimulation
- Orientation
What are some correctable factors that contribute to delirium?
- Disorientation
- Dehydration
- Constipation
- Hypoxia
- Immobility/limited mobility
- Infection
- Multiple medications
- Pain
- Poor nutrition
- Sensory impairment
- Sleep disturbance
What is a different description used for delirium?
Encephalopathy - describes underlying process
What signs can be seen in hepatic encephalopathy
- General psychomotor retardation
- Drowsiness
- Fluctuating confusion
- Asterixis
List some causes of diencephalic damage that can lead to amnesic syndrome?
- Korsakoff’s syndrome (alcoholic and non-alcoholic)
- 3rd ventricle tumours and cysts
- Bilateral thalamic infarction
- Post subarachnoid haemorrhage
List some causes of hippocampal damage that can lead to amnesic syndrome?
- Herpes simplex virus encephalitis
- Anoxia
- Surgical removal of temporal lobes
- Bilateral posterior cerebral artery occlusion
- Closed head injury
- Early Alzheimer’s disease
