special subjects
Korsakoff Psychosis
Symptoms and Signs of Korsakoff Psychosis
Immediate memory is severely affected; Amnesias occur in varying degrees in patients with Korsakoff psychosis. Patients tend to draw on memory of remote events, which appears to be less affected than memory of recent events. Disorientation to time is common. Emotional changes are common; they include apathy, blandness, or mild euphoria with little or no response to events, even frightening ones. Spontaneity and initiative may be decreased. Confabulation is often a striking early feature. Bewildered patients unconsciously fabricate imaginary or confused accounts of events they cannot recall; these fabrications may be so convincing that the underlying disorder is not detected. 