Korsakoff's psychosis

psychosis /psy·cho·sis/ (si-ko´sis) pl. psycho´ses   any major mental disorder of organic or emotional origin marked by derangement of personality and loss of contact with reality, with delusions and hallucinations and often with incoherent speech, disorganized and agitated behavior, or illusions. Cf. neurosis.

---

alcoholic psychoses  those associated with excessive use of alcohol and involving organic brain damage.

bipolar psychosis  see under disorder.

brief reactive psychosis  an episode of brief psychotic disorder that is a reaction to a recognizable, distressing life event.

Korsakoff's psychosis  see under syndrome.

senile psychosis  depressive or paranoid delusions or hallucinations or other mental disorders associated with degeneration of the brain in old age, as in senile dementia.

symbiotic psychosis , symbiotic infantile psychosis a condition seen in two- to four-year-old children having an abnormal relationship to the mothering figure, characterized by intense separation anxiety, severe regression, giving up of useful speech, and autism.

toxic psychosis  one due to the ingestion of toxic agents or to the presence of toxins within the body.

---

Korsakoff's psychosis

[kôr′səkôfs]

Etymology: Sergei S. Korsakoff, Russian psychiatrist, 1854-1900

a form of amnesia often seen in chronic alcoholics that is characterized by a loss of short-term memory and an inability to learn new skills. The person is usually disoriented, may present with delirium and hallucinations, and confabulates to conceal the condition. The cause of the condition can often be traced to degenerative changes in the thalamus as a result of a deficiency of B complex vitamins, especially thiamine and B₁₂. Deficits are often permanent. Compare Wernicke's encephalopathy.