PATH - General Flashcards
Dissociative amnesia
Inability to recall important personal information, usually subsequent to severe trauma or stress.
May be accompanied by *dissociative fugue (abrupt travel or wandering during a period of dissociative amnesia, associated with traumatic circumstances).
Korsakoff syndrome
Amnesia (anterograde > retrograde) caused by *vitamin B1 deficiency and associated destruction
of *mammillary bodies.
Seen in alcoholics as a late neuropsychiatric manifestation of Wernicke
encephalopathy.
*Confabulations are characteristic
Dissociative identity disorder
Formerly known as *multiple personality disorder
Presence of 2 or more distinct identities or
personality states
More common in women
Associated with history of sexual abuse, PTSD,
depression, substance abuse, borderline personality, somatoform conditions.
Depersonalization/derealization
disorder
Persistent feelings of detachment or estrangement from one’s own body, thoughts, perceptions, and
actions (depersonalization) or one’s environment (derealization).
Delirium
“Waxing and waning” level of consciousness with acute onset
rapid DEC in attention span and level of arousal
Characterized by disorganized thinking, hallucinations (often visual),
illusions, misperceptions, disturbance in sleepwake
cycle, cognitive dysfunction.
Commonly, diffuse slowing EEG.
TX is aimed at identifying and
addressing underlying condition. *Haloperidol
may be used as needed.
Psychosis
Distorted perception of reality characterized by delusions, hallucinations, and/or disorganized
thinking
Can occur in patients with medical illness, psychiatric illness, or both.
Schizophrenia
Chronic mental disorder with periods of psychosis, disturbed behavior and thought, and decline in functioning lasting > *6
months
Associated with INC dopaminergic activity, DEC dendritic branching.
Diagnosis requires at least 2 of the following, and at least 1 of these should include 1–3
(first 4 are “positive sx”):
1. Delusions
2. Hallucinations—often auditory
3. Disorganized speech
4. Disorganized or catatonic behavior
5. Negative symptoms (affective flattening,
avolition, anhedonia, asociality, alogia)
*Ventriculomegaly on brain imaging
TX: atypical antipsychotics (
risperidone) are first line.
Brief psychotic disorder
lasting
Schizophreniform disorder
lasting 1–6 months.
Schizoaffective disorder
at least 2 weeks of
hallucinations or delusions with major mood episode (major depression or mania),
plus periods of concurrent major mood episode with schizophrenic symptoms.
Delusional disorder
Fixed, persistent, false belief system lasting > 1 month.
Functioning otherwise not impaired
Can be shared by individuals in close relationships (*folie à deux).
Manic episode
Distinct period of abnormally and persistently elevated, expansive, or irritable mood and abnormally and persistently INC activity or energy lasting *at least 1 week
*Often disturbing to patient
Diagnosis requires hospitalization or at least 3 of the following (manics DIG FAST):
Distractibility
Irresponsibility—seeks pleasure without regard to consequences (hedonistic)
*Grandiosity—inflated self-esteem
*Flight of ideas—racing thoughts
*INC in goal-directed *Activity/psychomotor *Agitation
*DEC need for Sleep
Talkativeness or pressured speech
Hypomanic episode
Like manic episode except mood disturbance is not severe enough to cause marked impairment in social and/or occupational functioning or to necessitate hospitalization
*No psychotic features.
Lasts at least *4 consecutive days.
Bipolar disorder (manic depression)
- Bipolar I defined by presence of at least 1 manic episode +/− a hypomanic or depressive episode.
- Bipolar II defined by presence of a hypomanic and a depressive episode.
TX: mood stabilizers (lithium, valproic acid, carbamazepine), atypical antipsychotics.
Cyclothymic disorder
milder form of bipolar disorder lasting at least *2 years, fluctuating between mild depressive and hypomanic symptoms.