Organic Mental Disorders Flashcards
What makes a disorder an OMD>
Recognised as having an organic explanation
Acquired (i.e. not a LD)
Primary (brain) or secondary (e.g. endocrine)
What areas of mental health do OMDs affect?
Cognitive impairment e.g. memory, language, orientation, attention or executive function
Behavioural abnormalities
Mood changes
Psychotic symptoms
What are the major acute OMDs?
Delirium
Organic Mood disorder
Organic Psychotic disorder
What is delirium?
Transient & fluctuating global cognitive impairment with ass. behavioural changes
What are the defining characteristics of delirium?
- Impaired attention/conc
- Disorientated (Time, place, person)
- Fluctuating arousal (quiet/drowsy –> agitated outburst) particularly at night
- Perceptual problems e.g. hallucination
- Mood changes
- Delusions
- Disorganised thinking & speech
Also ant memory, sleep/wake cycle and psychomotor problems
Virtually any neuro or systemic problem can –> delirium, what are the most common?
Infection Drugs e.g. steroids/opioids (both common post-op) Withdrawal e.g. alc Alc use Liver/kidney disease Hypoxia
Lot’s of others in brain, vit deficiencies, metabolic problems and endocrinopathies
What are the commonest chronic OMDs?
Dementia
Amnesic Syndrome
ORganic Personality Change
What makes dementia different to Delirium?
It’s a chronic and progessive global cognitive impairment,
It also doesn’t fluctuate much
Define amnesic syndrome?
Ant AND Retrograde amnesia with preserved intellectual abilities, working memory & procedural memory
What can cause amnesic syndrome>?
Hippocampal damage e.g. HSV or bilateral post-cerebral art occlusion
Diencephalic damage e.g. Korsakoff’s syndrome, 3rd ventricle tumours and post-subarachnoid haemorrhage problems such as ant communicating art aneurysm