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| Korsakoff's psychosis | ||||||||||
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Korsakoff's syndrome (Korsakoff's psychosis, amnesic-confabulatory syndrome), is a degenerative brain disorder caused by the lack of thiamine (vitamin B1) in the brain. The syndrome is named after Sergei Korsakoff, the neuropsychiatrist who popularized the theory.
Symptoms[]
There are six major symptoms of Korsakoff's syndrome: anterograde and retrograde amnesia, or severe memory loss; confabulation, that is, invented memories which are then taken as true due to gaps in memory sometimes associated with blackouts; meager content in conversation; lack of insight, and apathy (the patients lose interest in things quickly and generally appear indifferent to change).
These symptoms are caused by a deficiency of thiamine (vitamin B1), which is thought to cause damage to the medial thalamus and possibly to the mammillary bodies of the hypothalamus as well as generalized cerebral atrophy.[1]
When Wernicke's encephalopathy accompanies Korsakoff's syndrome, the combination is called the Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome. Korsakoff's is a continuum of Wernicke's encephalopathy, though a recognised episode of Wernicke's is not always obvious.
Korsakoff's involves neuronal loss, that is, damage to neurons; gliosis which is a result of damage to supporting cells of the central nervous system; and hemorrhage or bleeding in mammillary bodies. Damage to the dorsomedial nucleus of the thalamus is also associated with this disorder.
Indications[]
- Ataxia
- Apathy
- Retrograde amnesia and anterograde amnesia
- Confabulation (inventing events to compensate for gaps in memory)
- Tremors
- Paralysis of muscles controlling the eye
- Lack of insight to the condition
- Coma
Treatment[]
Treatment involves replacing the thiamine by Intravenous (IV) or intramuscular (IM) injection, and providing proper nutrition and hydration. However, the amnesia and brain damage caused by the disease does not respond to thiamine replacement therapy. In some cases, drug therapy is recommended to the patient. If treatment is successful, signs will show within two years though recovery is slow and often incomplete.
Causes[]
Conditions resulting in the vitamin deficiency and its effects include chronic alcoholism, and severe malnutrition. Alcoholism is often an indicator of poor nutrition, which in addition to inflammation of the stomach lining, causes thiamine deficiency.[2] As well as alcohol abuse, causes include dietary deficiencies, prolonged vomiting, eating disorders, or the effects of chemotherapy. It can also occur in pregnant women who have a form of extreme morning sickness known as hyperemesis gravidarum.[3] Mercury poisoning can also cause it.
Case studies[]
A famous case study is recounted by Oliver Sacks in "The Lost Mariner", which can be found in The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat.
Another case is that of the Australian artist Charles Blackman.[4]
See also[]
References & Bibliography[]
- ↑ Kolb & Whishaw: Fundamentals of Human Neuropsychology, 2003, pages 473-473
- ↑ http://www.alzheimers.org.uk/Facts_about_dementia/What_is_dementia/info_korsakoffs.htm
- ↑ http://www.healthatoz.com/healthatoz/Atoz/common/standard/transform.jsp?requestURI=/healthatoz/Atoz/ency/korsakoffs_syndrome.jsp
- ↑ http://www.theage.com.au/news/arts/artists-wonderland-is-back-in-town/2006/07/28/1153816384482.html
Key texts[]
Books[]
Papers[]
- Jaffe, P.G. and Katz, A.N. (1975) Attenuating anterograde amnesia in Korsakoff's psychosis, Journal of Abnormal Psychology 84: 559-62.
Additional material[]
Books[]
Papers[]
External links[]
- Strangers is a play by Edward Einhorn based on the syndrome.
- The Merck Manual: Function And Dysfunction Of The Cerebral Lobes - Amnesias - Korsakoff's syndrome
- Simple description of Korsakoff's syndrome
WHO ICD-10 mental and behavioural disorders (F · 290–319) | |
|---|---|
| Neurological/symptomatic |
Dementia (Alzheimer's disease, multi-infarct dementia, Pick's disease, Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, Huntington's disease, Parkinson's disease, AIDS dementia complex, Frontotemporal dementia) · Delirium · Post-concussion syndrome |
| Psychoactive substance |
alcohol (drunkenness, alcohol dependence, delirium tremens, Korsakoff's syndrome, alcohol abuse) · opiods (opioid dependency) · sedative/hypnotic (benzodiazepine withdrawal) · cocaine (cocaine dependence) · general (Intoxication, Drug abuse, Physical dependence, Withdrawal) |
| Psychotic disorder |
Schizophrenia (disorganized schizophrenia) · Schizotypal personality disorder · Delusional disorder · Folie à deux · Schizoaffective disorder |
| Mood (affective) |
Mania · Bipolar disorder · Clinical depression · Cyclothymia · Dysthymia |
| Neurotic, stress-related and somatoform |
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| Physiological/ physical behavioural |
Eating disorder (anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa) · Sleep disorder (dyssomnia, insomnia, hypersomnia, parasomnia, night terror, nightmare) · Sexual dysfunction (erectile dysfunction, premature ejaculation, vaginismus, dyspareunia, hypersexuality) · Postnatal depression |
| Adult personality and behaviour |
Personality disorder · Passive-aggressive behavior · Kleptomania · Trichotillomania · Voyeurism · Factitious disorder · Munchausen syndrome · Ego-dystonic sexual orientation |
| Intellectual disability | |
| Psychological development (developmental disorder) |
Specific: speech and language (expressive language disorder, aphasia, expressive aphasia, receptive aphasia, Landau-Kleffner syndrome, lisp) · Scholastic skills (dyslexia, dysgraphia, Gerstmann syndrome) · Motor function (developmental dyspraxia) · Pervasive: Autism/Asperger syndrome · Rett syndrome |
| Behavioural and emotional, childhood and adolescence onset |
ADHD · Conduct disorder · Oppositional defiant disorder · Separation anxiety disorder · Selective mutism · Reactive attachment disorder · Tic disorder · Tourette syndrome · Speech (stuttering · cluttering) |
| Memory |
|---|
| Types of memory |
| Articulatory suppression | Auditory memory | Autobiographical memory | Collective memory | Early memories | Echoic Memory | Eidetic memory | Episodic memory | Episodic-like memory | Explicit memory |Exosomatic memory | False memory |Flashbulb memory | Iconic memory | Implicit memory | Institutional memory | Long term memory | Music-related memory | Procedural memory | Prospective memory | Repressed memory | Retrospective memory | Semantic memory | Sensory memory | Short term memory | Spatial memory | State-dependent memory | Tonal memory | Transactive memory | Transsaccadic memory | Verbal memory | Visual memory | Visuospatial memory | Working memory | |
| Aspects of memory |
| Childhood amnesia | Cryptomnesia |Cued recall | Eye-witness testimony | Memory and emotion | Forgetting |Forgetting curve | Free recall | Levels-of-processing effect | Memory consolidation |Memory decay | Memory distrust syndrome |Memory inhibition | Memory and smell | Memory for the future | Memory loss | Memory optimization | Memory trace | Mnemonic | Memory biases | Modality effect | Tip of the tongue | Lethologica | Memory loss |Priming | Primacy effect | Reconstruction | Proactive interference | Prompting | Recency effect | Recall (learning) | Recognition (learning) | Reminiscence | Retention | Retroactive interference | Serial position effect | Serial recall | Source amnesia | |
| Memory theory |
| Atkinson-Shiffrin | Baddeley | CLARION | Decay theory | Dual-coding theory | Interference theory |Memory consolidation | Memory encoding | Memory-prediction framework | Forgetting | Recall | Recognition | |
| Mnemonics |
| Method of loci | Mnemonic room system | Mnemonic dominic system | Mnemonic learning | Mnemonic link system |Mnemonic major system | Mnemonic peg system | [[]] |[[]] | |
| Neuroanatomy of memory |
| Amygdala | Hippocampus | prefrontal cortex | Neurobiology of working memory | Neurophysiology of memory | Rhinal cortex | Synapses |[[]] | |
| Neurochemistry of memory |
| Glutamatergic system | of short term memory | [[]] |[[]] | [[]] | [[]] | [[]] | [[]] |[[]] | |
| Developmental aspects of memory |
| Prenatal memory | |Childhood memory | Memory and aging | [[]] | [[]] | |
| Memory in clinical settings |
| Alcohol amnestic disorder | Amnesia | Dissociative fugue | False memory syndrome | False memory | Hyperthymesia | Memory and aging | Memory disorders | Memory distrust syndrome Repressed memory Traumatic memory | |
| Retention measures |
| Benton | CAMPROMPT | Implicit memory testing | Indirect tests of memory | MAS | Memory tests for children | MERMER | Rey-15 | Rivermead | TOMM | Wechsler | WMT | WRAML2 | |
| Treating memory problems |
| CBT | EMDR | Psychotherapy | Recovered memory therapy |Reminiscence therapy | Memory clinic | Memory training | Rewind technique | |
| Prominant workers in memory|- |
| Baddeley | Broadbent |Ebbinghaus | Kandel |McGaugh | Schacter | Treisman | Tulving | |
| Philosophy and historical views of memory |
| Aristotle | [[]] |[[]] |[[]] |[[]] | [[]] | [[]] | [[]] | |
| Miscellaneous |
| Journals | Learning, Memory, and Cognition |Journal of Memory and Language |Memory |Memory and Cognition | [[]] | [[]] | [[]] | |
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