Organic Brain Syndromes in DSM-III

Abstract

Psychiatric manifestations of brain disorders are fast becoming a major area of research at the interface of psychiatry and the neurosciences. Neglected for decades by investigators and clinicians alike, especially in North America, the organic brain syndromes (OBS) have attracted growing interest lately because of their high prevalence and incidence in the elderly, whose numbers are increasing throughout the world. Moreover, advances in medicine, such as critical care and new drugs and surgical procedures, have helped to save lives but at the same time allowed survival of many individuals exhibiting evidence of transient or permanent brain dysfunction and its psychiatric correlates. Thus, the frequency of organic psychiatric disorders has been rising and they pose a challenge to psychiatrists to assist in their diagnosis, treatment and study.