DS can be secondary when associated to psychosis or bipolar disorder, or primary when it occurs as a single entity, usually in the elderly. Senile breakdown in standards of personal and environmental cleanliness. Diogenes syndrome (DS) is not a specific disease but a real neurobehavioral syndrome, characterized by severe domestic squalor, pathological hoarding, lack of insight into the condition, and no need for help. Diogenes syndrome: a clinical study of gross neglect in old age. International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry. Hoarding severity predicts functional disability in late-life hoarding disorder patients. R., Princeton L., Howard I., Mayes T., Porter B., Iqbal J. Diogenes syndrome: a special manifestation of hoarding disorder. Diogenes syndrome and pathological hoarding behaviour: a case report. Furthermore, creating an agreed-upon constellation of symptoms representative of Diogenes is essential to creating a formal Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) entry, which would facilitate the much-needed development of assessment measures to enable accurate diagnosis and treatment.Ĭopyright © 2021 Carmel Proctor and Sakib Rahman.Ĭastro L. This case report provides a rare opportunity to better understand the distinction of Diogenes syndrome from the closely related condition hoarding disorder. Diogenes syndrome is highly comorbid with psychiatric and somatic disorders, including depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder, personality disorder, and stress. He was found lying nude on top of garbage with a rug over him. His home was covered in several feet of rubbish, rotting food, and debris and smelled intensely of rotting mould, urine, and faeces. Police officers attended the man's home following the alarm being raised by his stepfather that he had not been seen or heard from in 3 weeks. This report presents a case of a 51-year-old male admitted to the hospital psychiatric ward following the police removing him from his home. Thus, in addition to having typical clinical manifestations, such individuals appear to form a distinct subset of forensic cases having characteristic death scene and autopsy features and presenting particular difficulties in postmortem evaluations."Severe domestic squalor" or Diogenes syndrome is characterised by extreme self-neglect of environment, health, and hygiene, excessive hoarding, squalor, social withdrawal, and a distinct lack of concern or shame regarding one's living condition. Finally, the identification of the deceased may be compromised by decay and/or postmortem animal activity. Attending police may suspect robbery due to disarray of the house and homicide due to apparent "bleeding" around the body from purging of putrefactive fluids, injuries from falls, or postmortem animal activity and "blood stains" throughout the house from antemortem injuries and/or fluid spread by animals. Treatable medical conditions are often present in advanced stages, and features of hypothermia may be found. Blood or putrefactive fluids may be spread throughout the house by pets. Bodies may be traumatized from postmortem animal depredation by rodents or pets (eg, cats, dogs), and injuries such as bruises and lacerations may be present from falls associated with terminal illnesses or alcoholism. Bodies are often filthy, with parasitic infestations, and are often putrefied due to the social isolation of the deceased and the delay in the finding of the corpse. Examinations of the death scenes are often difficult as victim's houses are in a state of disrepair, with filth and clutter, and pet dogs may resent the intrusion of strangers. A number of typical features are found in the forensic evaluation of these deaths as the cases usually initiate medicolegal investigations due to the circumstances and the lack of recorded medical histories. Diogenes syndrome is a syndrome described in the clinical literature in elderly individuals characterized by social isolation and extreme squalor.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |