What Is an Organic Mental Disorder?

Organic mental disorder refers to a mental disorder caused by a brain or physical illness. The former is often called cerebral organic mental disorders, including mental disorders caused by cerebral degenerative diseases, cerebrovascular diseases, intracranial infections, brain trauma, brain tumors, and epilepsy. Mental disorders caused by physical diseases are caused by physical diseases other than the brain, such as physical infections, internal organ diseases, and endocrine disorders. However, cerebral organic mental disorders and mental disorders caused by physical diseases are often indistinguishable. ^[1]

In the diagnosis of psychiatric diseases, because the pathogenesis of most psychiatric diseases is unknown, physical and chemical examination methods also have major limitations. Clinicians mainly rely on clinical observations and make diagnosis based on psychiatric symptoms, combined with history, and course characteristics. This relatively solid clinical thinking method often leads clinicians to focus only on mental state examination and neglect physical examination and nervous system examination. Once suspected of having an organic mental disorder, in addition to a detailed medical history inquiry and a complete mental status examination, the patient must also undergo a physical examination and a nervous system examination, combined with various laboratory examinations and imaging studies. And neuroelectrophysiology results to make a correct diagnosis. ^[1]