Clinic of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, Vilnius University, Vilnius, Lithuania.
Eur J Intern Med. 2012 Sep;23(6):483-6. doi: 10.1016/j.ejim.2012.06.010. Epub 2012 Jul 12.
Delirium was one of the first mental disorders ever to be described, though it remains an elusive concept to this day. Historically, delirium has developed from the prototype of acute confusion with psychomotor agitation. It was thought to be caused by the withdrawal of substance dependence or severe somatic diseases accompanying by fever; however only in the 20th century, it was concluded that delirium and similar states manifest themselves as a consciousness disorder, and is not a specific state of somatic diseases. Four core features defines delirium at present: a disturbance of consciousness, a disturbance of cognition, limited course and external causation. However, these features do not include common manifestations of delirium in elderly patients with dementia; therefore the concept of delirium should be revised and corrected.
谵妄是最早被描述的精神障碍之一，但时至今日，它仍是一个难以捉摸的概念。历史上，谵妄从伴有精神运动激越的急性意识混乱的原型发展而来。它被认为是由物质依赖的戒断或伴有发热的严重躯体疾病引起的；然而，直到 20 世纪，人们才得出结论，谵妄和类似的状态表现为意识障碍，而不是躯体疾病的特定状态。目前，谵妄有四个核心特征：意识障碍、认知障碍、病程有限和外在病因。然而，这些特征并不包括老年痴呆症患者谵妄的常见表现；因此，谵妄的概念应该被修正和纠正。
