Athymhormia is a disorder of
motivation, one of that class of
neuro-
psychiatric
Psychiatry is the medical specialty devoted to the diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of mental disorders. These include various maladaptations related to mood, behaviour, cognition, and perceptions. See glossary of psychiatry.
Initial psy ...
conditions marked by abnormalities or deficiencies in
motivation. Symptoms include the loss or reduction of desire and
interest
In finance and economics, interest is payment from a borrower or deposit-taking financial institution to a lender or depositor of an amount above repayment of the principal sum (that is, the amount borrowed), at a particular rate. It is distin ...
toward previous motivations, loss of drive and the desire for satisfaction, curiosity, the loss of
taste
The gustatory system or sense of taste is the sensory system that is partially responsible for the perception of taste (flavor). Taste is the perception produced or stimulated when a substance in the mouth reacts chemically with taste receptor ...
s and
preferences, and
flat affect. In athymhormia, however, these phenomena are not accompanied by the characterizing features of
depression nor by any notable abnormality in
intellectual or
cognitive function.
Origin of diagnostic category
The
diagnostic
Diagnosis is the identification of the nature and cause of a certain phenomenon. Diagnosis is used in many different disciplines, with variations in the use of logic, analytics, and experience, to determine " cause and effect". In systems engin ...
category was coined in 1922 by the
French psychiatrists Dide and Guiraud, originally in reference to the behavior identified in some
patient
A patient is any recipient of health care services that are performed by healthcare professionals. The patient is most often ill or injured and in need of treatment by a physician, nurse, optometrist, dentist, veterinarian, or other hea ...
s with
schizophrenia
Schizophrenia is a mental disorder characterized by continuous or relapsing episodes of psychosis. Major symptoms include hallucinations (typically hearing voices), delusions, and disorganized thinking. Other symptoms include social wit ...
.
Cause
The cause of this condition has been
hypothesized to derive from abnormalities in the
limbic
The limbic system, also known as the paleomammalian cortex, is a set of brain structures located on both sides of the thalamus, immediately beneath the medial temporal lobe of the cerebrum primarily in the forebrain.Schacter, Daniel L. 2012. ''Ps ...
frontal cortex, the
striatum,
globus pallidus, and
dorso
Dorso is a Chilean metal band. Common themes in the band's music are horror film creatures, hyperbolic sexual fetishes and Chilean myths.
The band's frontman, Rodrigo Cuadra, became a TV presenter in the 1990s.
History
Early years (1984â ...
-
medial thalamic nucleus. In the context of the theory of those who propose the existence of a distinct
neural pathway
In neuroanatomy, a neural pathway is the connection formed by axons that project from neurons to make synapses onto neurons in another location, to enable neurotransmission (the sending of a signal from one region of the nervous system to an ...
for mood and interest, or the ''"hormothymic" system'', athymhormia may be a disorder of this system.
See also
*
Aboulia
In neurology, abulia, or aboulia (from grc, βουλή, meaning "will"),Bailly, A. (2000). Dictionnaire Grec Français, Éditions Hachette. refers to a lack of will or initiative and can be seen as a ''disorder of diminished motivation'' (''DDM'' ...
*
Amotivational syndrome
Amotivational syndrome is a chronic psychiatric disorder characterized by signs that are linked to cognitive and emotional states such as detachment, blunted emotion and drives, executive functions like memory and attention, disinterest, passiv ...
*
Anhedonia
Anhedonia is a diverse array of deficits in hedonic function, including reduced motivation or ability to experience pleasure. While earlier definitions emphasized the inability to experience pleasure, anhedonia is currently used by researchers t ...
*
Athymhormic syndrome
Athymhormic syndrome (from Ancient Greek θυμός ''thūmós'', "mood" or "affect", and ''hormḗ'', "impulse", "drive" or "appetite"), psychic akinesia, or auto-activation deficit (AAD) is a rare psychopathological and neurological syndrome cha ...
*
Avolition
Avolition, as a symptom of various forms of psychopathology, is the decrease in the ability to initiate and persist in self-directed purposeful activities. Such activities that appear to be neglected usually include routine activities, including h ...
References
Further reading
* Patrick Verstichel and Pascale Larrouy. "Drowning Mr. M." ''Scientific American Mind''. April 2005.
External links
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Neuropsychology
Symptoms and signs of mental disorders