Ideas of neglect and hoarding in the senile psychoses

Conclusions

The senile who has partly lost the use of his brain—the seat of experiential, intellectual and sensorial maturity—no longer can utilize these adult functions and must seize upon whatever other self-sustaining forces are resident in his psychic economy. The earliest of these forces, narcissism, serves most fundamental needs. This is true even in the primal matter of falling asleep. Again, individuals suffering various types of organic affection exhibit increased narcissism, that is, they become complaining, irritable, more or less helpless, and dependent. The senile, having suffered irreparable organic damage, manifests inordinate narcissism or childishness, which takes the form of ideas of neglect and of hoarding tendencies.