Premorbidity refers to the state of functionality prior to the onset of a disease or illness. It is most often used in relation to psychological function (e.g. premorbid personality or premorbid intelligence), but can also be used in relation to other medical conditions (e.g. premorbid lung function or premorbid heart rate).
Psychology
In
psychology
Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Its subject matter includes the behavior of humans and nonhumans, both consciousness, conscious and Unconscious mind, unconscious phenomena, and mental processes such as thoughts, feel ...
, premorbidity is most often used in relation to changes in personality,
intelligence
Intelligence has been defined in many ways: the capacity for abstraction, logic, understanding, self-awareness, learning, emotional knowledge, reasoning, planning, creativity, critical thinking, and problem-solving. It can be described as t ...
or
cognitive function
Cognitive skills are skills of the mind, as opposed to other types of skills such as motor skills, social skills or life skills. Some examples of cognitive skills are literacy, self-reflection, logical reasoning, abstract thinking, critical th ...
.
Changes in personality are common in cases of
traumatic brain injury
A traumatic brain injury (TBI), also known as an intracranial injury, is an injury to the brain caused by an external force. TBI can be classified based on severity ranging from mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI/concussion) to severe traumati ...
involving the
frontal lobes
The frontal lobe is the largest of the four major lobes of the brain in mammals, and is located at the front of each cerebral hemisphere (in front of the parietal lobe and the temporal lobe). It is parted from the parietal lobe by a groove betwe ...
, the most famous example of this is the case of
Phineas Gage
Phineas P. Gage (18231860) was an American railroad construction foreman remembered for his improbable survival of an accident in which a large iron rod was driven completely through his head, destroying much of his brain's left frontal lobe, ...
who survived having a tamping iron shot through his head in a railway construction accident.
Declines from premorbid levels of intelligence and other cognitive functions are observed in
stroke
Stroke is a medical condition in which poor cerebral circulation, blood flow to a part of the brain causes cell death. There are two main types of stroke: brain ischemia, ischemic, due to lack of blood flow, and intracranial hemorrhage, hemor ...
,
traumatic brain injury
A traumatic brain injury (TBI), also known as an intracranial injury, is an injury to the brain caused by an external force. TBI can be classified based on severity ranging from mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI/concussion) to severe traumati ...
, and
dementia
Dementia is a syndrome associated with many neurodegenerative diseases, characterized by a general decline in cognitive abilities that affects a person's ability to perform activities of daily living, everyday activities. This typically invo ...
as well as in
mental illnesses
A mental disorder, also referred to as a mental illness, a mental health condition, or a psychiatric disability, is a behavioral or mental pattern that causes significant distress or impairment of personal functioning. A mental disorder is ...
such as
depression and
schizophrenia
Schizophrenia () is a mental disorder characterized variously by hallucinations (typically, Auditory hallucination#Schizophrenia, hearing voices), delusions, thought disorder, disorganized thinking and behavior, and Reduced affect display, f ...
.
Other usage in psychology include premorbid adjustment which has important implications for the
prognosis
Prognosis ( Greek: πρόγνωσις "fore-knowing, foreseeing"; : prognoses) is a medical term for predicting the likelihood or expected development of a disease, including whether the signs and symptoms will improve or worsen (and how quickly) ...
of mental illness such as schizophrenia. Efforts are also being made to identify premorbid personality profiles for certain illness, such as schizophrenia to determine at risk populations.
Clinical and diagnostic usage
In the
Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition, Text Revision (DSM-IV-TR),
paranoid
Paranoia is an instinct or thought process that is believed to be heavily influenced by anxiety, suspicion, or fear, often to the point of delusion and irrationality. Paranoid thinking typically includes persecutory beliefs, or beliefs of con ...
,
schizoid
Schizoid personality disorder (, often abbreviated as SzPD or ScPD) is a personality disorder characterized by a lack of interest in social relationships, a tendency toward a solitary or sheltered lifestyle, secretiveness, emotional coldness, ...
, and
schizotypal
Schizotypal personality disorder (StPD or SPD), also known as schizotypal disorder, is a cluster A personality disorder characterized by thought disorder, paranoia, a characteristic form of social anxiety, derealization, transient psychosis, an ...
personality disorders may be diagnosed as conditions ''premorbid'' to the onset of schizophrenia.
[American Psychiatric Association, 2000. ''Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition, Text Revision''. Washington, D.C.: American Psychiatric Press, Inc.]
See also
*
Prodrome
In medicine, a prodrome is an early sign or symptom (or set of signs and symptoms, referred to as prodromal symptoms) that often indicates the onset of a disease before more diagnostically specific signs and symptoms develop. More specifically, it ...
References
{{Reflist
Symptoms