What is organic personality change

Organic personality changes refer to significant and persistent changes in personality traits caused by organic lesions in the brain, commonly seen in traumatic brain injury, cerebrovascular disease, brain tumors, neurodegenerative diseases, etc. The main symptoms include emotional instability, behavioral loss of control, and social dysfunction, which need to be diagnosed through neuroimaging examination.

1. Etiological mechanism

Organic personality changes are often associated with damage to brain regions such as the frontal and temporal lobes. Cerebrovascular accidents such as cerebral infarction or cerebral hemorrhage may damage the neural circuits in the prefrontal cortex, leading to decreased judgment and impulsive behavior. The abnormal deposition of tau protein associated with neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's disease can lead to emotional apathy and stubbornness.

2. Core Symptoms

Typical manifestations include emotional regulation disorders such as irritability or apathy, abnormal volitional behavior such as loss of initiative or impulsive aggression. Some patients have experienced moral degradation, manifested as antisocial behaviors such as theft and nudity. The symptoms persist for more than 6 months and deviate significantly from previous personality traits.

3. Diagnostic criteria

should meet the diagnostic requirements for organic mental disorders in ICD-11, including clarifying the temporal correlation between evidence of brain organic lesions and personality changes. Neuropsychological assessment shows cognitive impairment in areas such as executive function and emotion recognition, while MRI shows atrophy or lesions in the frontal and temporal lobes.

4. Treatment principle

Based on etiological treatment, combined with symptomatic intervention. Patients with cerebrovascular disease need to control blood pressure and blood sugar, while Parkinson's disease patients can adjust dopaminergic drugs. Olanzapine tablets can improve aggressive behavior, sertraline tablets are suitable for depressive symptoms, and sodium valproate sustained-release tablets are effective for emotional fluctuations.

5. rehabilitation management

requires the joint participation of family and social support systems. Behavior correction training helps establish regular sleep patterns and reduce stimuli through environmental modification. Regular follow-up assessments of cognitive function in neurology and psychiatry, maintenance of some social functions through vocational rehabilitation training, and legal recognition of guardianship if necessary. Patients with organic personality changes should maintain a regular daily routine, and family members should learn non conflict communication skills. It is recommended to engage in 30 minutes of aerobic exercise daily to promote cerebral blood flow, and increase the intake of omega-3 fatty acids in deep-sea fish through diet supplementation. Be careful to avoid neurotoxic substances such as alcohol, and regularly review head imaging to assess disease progression. Early identification intervention can help delay the decline of social function.