Senile Psychosis

senile psychosis

[′sē‚nīl sī′kō·səs] (psychology) A severe form of senile dementia characterized by personality deterioration, progressive memory loss, eccentricity, irritability, and sometimes delusions and hallucinations.

Psychosis, Senile

one of a group of mental diseases that include senile dementia and functional psychoses of old age.

Senile dementia is a progressive deterioration of mental activity caused by atrophic changes in the brain. The disease generally commences between 70 and 80 years of age and is characterized by changes in personality, for example, callousness, rudeness, apathy, and the development of a sense of alienation. Memory disturbances predominate in the later phases of the disease. Dements cannot fix their attention on what is happening around them; past experience is largely lost, with the memory of comparatively recent events initially affected. Gradually, the individual loses touch with reality and his own identity. On the average, senile dementia lasts three to five years; however, its duration can be much shorter or much longer. The initial stage of the disease may be characterized by delirium, hallucinations, and affective disorders, and the final stage by physical emaciation, which leads to death.

Functional psychoses of old age are mental diseases characteristic only of old age and not related to any organic disease of the brain that leads to dementia. They may be distinguished by systematized delusion with frequent auditory hallucinations, fantastic confabulations, elevated mood (late paraphrenia), or an agitated-depressed state (late melancholia). The treatment of functional psychoses depends on the nature and stage of development of the disease. Psychotropic agents may be used, and psychotics should be cared for and supervised.

REFERENCES

Zhislin, S. G. Ocherki klinicheskoipsikhiatrii. Moscow, 1965.
Averbukh, E. S. Rasstroistva psikhicheskoi deiatel’nosti v pozdnem vozraste. Leningrad, 1969.
Mayer-Gross, W., E. Slater, and M. Roth. Clinical Psychiatry. London, 1955.

M. I. FORIANOV

senile psychosis

psychosis

[si-ko´sis] (pl. psycho´ses) a state in which a person's mental capacity to recognize reality, communicate, and relate to others is impaired, thus interfering with the capacity to deal with life demands. adj. adj psychot´ic. Mental disorders in which psychotic symptoms may be present include mood disorders, schizophrenia, brief psychotic disorder, delusional disorders, schizophreniform disorder, schizoaffective disorder, shared psychotic disorder, and pervasive developmental disorders.alcoholic p's psychoses associated with alcohol use and involving organic brain damage, a category that includes alcohol withdrawal delirium, Korsakoff's syndrome, alcoholic hallucinosis, and alcoholic paranoia (concurrent paranoia and alcoholism).brief reactive psychosis an episode of brief psychotic disorder that is a reaction to a recognizable and distressing life event.depressive psychosis older term for a psychosis characterized by severe depression, which is now more commonly described as a form of major depressive disorder.Korsakoff's psychosis Korsakoff's syndrome.postpartum psychosis a psychotic episode occurring during the postpartum period.senile psychosis depressive or paranoid delusions or hallucinations or similar mental disorders due to degeneration of the brain in old age, as in senile dementia.toxic psychosis that due to ingestion of toxic agents or to the presence of toxins within the body.