Organic brain syndrome

Organic brain syndrome
Classification and external resources
Specialty	psychiatry
ICD-10	F06.9
ICD-9-CM	310.9
DiseasesDB	9266
MedlinePlus	001401
eMedicine	emerg/345
MeSH	D019965
[]

An organic brain syndrome (OBS), also known as an organic brain disease/disorder (OBD), an organic mental syndrome (OMS), or an organic mental disorder (OMD), is a syndrome or disorder of mental function whose cause is alleged to be known as organic (physiologic) rather than purely of the mind. These names are older and nearly obsolete general terms from psychiatry, referring to many physical disorders that cause impaired mental function. They are meant to exclude psychiatric disorders (mental disorders). Originally, the term was created to distinguish physical (termed "organic") causes of mental impairment from psychiatric (termed "functional") disorders, but during the era when this distinction was drawn, not enough was known about brain science (including neuroscience, cognitive science, neuropsychology, and mind-brain correlation) for this cause based classification to be more than educated guesswork labeled with misplaced certainty, which is why it has been deemphasized in current medicine.

Acute organic brain syndrome is (by definition) a recently appearing state of mental impairment, as a result of intoxication, drug overdose, infection, pain, and many other physical problems affecting mental status. In medical contexts, "acute" means "of recent onset". As is the case with most acute disease problems, acute organic brain syndrome is often temporary, although this does not guarantee that it will not recur (happen again) or progress to become chronic, that is, long-term. A more specific medical term for the acute subset of organic brain syndromes is delirium.

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