self-control is changed and

Disorders of consciousness are therefore disorders of a vital and fundamental function of the human psyche. They are psychopathological symptoms. Disorders of consciousness are formally divided into quantitative and qualitative disorders.

Quantitative consciousness disorders

1. Dizziness

• Gradual slowing down to apathy

• Orientation reduced

• spontaneous utterances reduced

2. Somnolence

• Limited concentration and attention

• Tendency to sleep

• Easy to wake up

• No spontaneous utterancess; if so, then incomprehensible murmuring

• Reflexes are preserved

3. Sopor

• Sleep-like condition

• Difficult to wake up

• No spontaneous utterances

• Reflexes are preserved

4. Coma

• Unconsciousness

• Affected cannot be woken up

• No defense movements against pain

• Increasing reflex failures

Qualitative consciousness disorders

1. Narrowing of consciousness

• Fixation on just one experience-related, mental or emotional aspect

• Decreased responsiveness

• Shifted state of consciousness

• Amnesia

• Preserved orientation

• Usually starts and ends within a short time

Occurrence:

• After epileptic seizures

• Traumatic brain injury

• Brain inflammation

• So-called pathological alcohol intoxication

2. Clouding of consciousness

• Impairment of the clarity of consciousness with fragmentation of the context of experience:

• Disturbed understanding of oneself and the environment

• Confused thinking and acting

• Disorientation

• Anxiety

• Hallucinations

• Disorder of the sleep-wake rhythm

• Possibly life-threatening vegetative disorders

• Constantly or only temporarily (“fragmented consciousness”)

Occurrence:

• Medication

• Poisoning

• Drugs

• Withdrawal

• Metabolic disorders

• Tumor and traumatic brain injury

• Heart disease

• Delirium, like after surgery

• Dementia

• Schizophrenia

3. Shift of consciousness

• Change in awareness with a feeling of an increased

  • Intensity or

  • Brightness or

  • Awareness (expansion of consciousness)

• Increased alertness (“hyper-alertness”)

• Emotional – “ecstatic” way of life with similarity to the trance, into which it can also pass

Occurrence:

• Drugs

• Mania,

• Schizophrenia

• Intensive meditation

4. Delirium

• Organic psychotic disorder with the main symptom: clouding of consciousness (and often with vegetative symptoms)

• Emergency situation!

Occurrence:

• Alcohol intoxication (also other drugs)

• Metabolic disorders

• Brain diseases

• Fever

• Sleep deprivation

• sensory stimulus suppression (confinement in darkness)

5. Twilight state

• Temporary “dream-like” narrowing of consciousness, in which the person concerned remains able to act

• Decreased attention

• Decreased responsiveness

• “Mental blackout” (retrograde amnesia)

• Usually starts and ends within a short time

Occurrence:

• After epileptic seizures

• So-called pathological alcohol intoxication

• Brain injuries

• psychogenic twilight conditions (fugue state)

•