Orientation is a function of the

mind The mind is that which thinks, feels, perceives, imagines, remembers, and wills. It covers the totality of mental phenomena, including both conscious processes, through which an individual is aware of external and internal circumstances ...

involving awareness of three dimensions:

time Time is the continuous progression of existence that occurs in an apparently irreversible process, irreversible succession from the past, through the present, and into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequ ...

place Place may refer to: Geography * Place (United States Census Bureau), defined as any concentration of population ** Census-designated place, a populated area lacking its own municipal government * "Place", a type of street or road name ** Of ...

and

person A person (: people or persons, depending on context) is a being who has certain capacities or attributes such as reason, morality, consciousness or self-consciousness, and being a part of a culturally established form of social relations suc ...

. Problems with orientation lead to ''dis''orientation, and can be due to various conditions. It ranges from an inability to coherently understand person, place, time, and situation, to complete disorientation.

Assessment

Assessment of a person's mental orientation is frequently designed to evaluate the need for focused diagnosis and treatment of conditions leading to an altered level of consciousness. A variety of basic prompts and tests are available to determine a person's level of orientation. These tests frequently primarily assess the ability of the person (within EMS) to perform basic functions of life (see: Airway Breathing Circulation), many assessments then gauge their level of

amnesia Amnesia is a deficit in memory caused by brain damage or brain diseases,Gazzaniga, M., Ivry, R., & Mangun, G. (2009) Cognitive Neuroscience: The biology of the mind. New York: W.W. Norton & Company. but it can also be temporarily caused by t ...

, awareness of surroundings, concept of time, place, and response to verbal, and sensory stimuli.

Causes of mental disorientation

Disorientation has a variety of causes, physiological and mental in nature. Physiological disorientation is frequently caused by an underlying or acute condition. Disease or injury that impairs the delivery of essential nutrients such as glucose, oxygen, fluids, or electrolytes can impair homeostasis, and therefore neurological function causing mental disorientation. Other causes are psycho-neurological in nature (see also Cognitive disorder) stemming from chemical imbalances in the brain, deterioration of the structure of the brain, or psychiatric states or illnesses that result in disorientation. Mental orientation is frequently affected by shock, including physiological shock (see: Shock circulatory) and mental shock (see:

Acute stress reaction Acute stress reaction (ASR), also known as psychological shock, mental shock, or simply shock, as well as acute stress disorder (ASD), is a psychological response to a terrifying, Psychological trauma, traumatic, or surprising experience. The r ...

, a psychological condition in response to acute stressful stimuli.) Areas within

precuneus In neuroanatomy, the precuneus is the portion of the superior parietal lobule on the medial surface of each brain hemisphere. It is located in front of the cuneus (the upper portion of the occipital lobe). The precuneus is bounded in front b ...

posterior cingulate cortex The posterior cingulate cortex (PCC) is the caudal part of the cingulate cortex, located posterior to the anterior cingulate cortex. This is the upper part of the " limbic lobe". The cingulate cortex is made up of an area around the midline of ...

, inferior parietal lobe, medial prefrontal cortex, lateral frontal, lateral temporal cortices are believed to be responsible for situational orientation.

References

{{Psychophysiology Cognition

Assessment

Causes of mental disorientation

See also

References