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Book

Abulia

Joe M. Das  1 , Abdolreza Saadabadi  2
In: StatPearls [Internet]. Treasure Island (FL): StatPearls Publishing; 2025 Jan.
.
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Book

Abulia

Joe M. Das et al.
Free Books & Documents

Excerpt

The Dictionary of Neurological Signs defines abulia as a "syndrome of hypofunction," characterized by lack of initiative, spontaneity, and drive, apathy, slowness of thought (bradyphrenia), and blunting of emotional responses and response to external stimuli. In other words, abulia refers to a lack of will, drive, or initiative for action, speech, and thought. This term derives from the Greek aboulia, meaning “non-will.” This has to be distinguished from the inability to perform an activity due to cognitive or physical disability. This phenomenon has been known since 1838. Several terms have been used interchangeably with abulia: apathy, psychic akinesia, loss of psychic self-activation, and athymia.

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Conflict of interest statement

Disclosure: Joe Das declares no relevant financial relationships with ineligible companies.

Disclosure: Abdolreza Saadabadi declares no relevant financial relationships with ineligible companies.

References

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    1. Siegel JS, Snyder AZ, Metcalf NV, Fucetola RP, Hacker CD, Shimony JS, Shulman GL, Corbetta M. The circuitry of abulia: insights from functional connectivity MRI. Neuroimage Clin. 2014;6:320-6. - PMC - PubMed
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    1. Spiegel DR, Chatterjee A. A case of abulia, status/post right middle cerebral artery territory infarct, treated successfully with olanzapine. Clin Neuropharmacol. 2014 Nov-Dec;37(6):186-9. - PubMed

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