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[Diogenes syndrome: a transnosographic approach]
C Hanon1, C Pinquier, N Gaddour
1EPS Erasme, 143, avenue Armand-Guillebaud, 92160 Antony.
L'Encephale
|November 13, 2004
Summary
Diogenes syndrome is a geriatric behavioral disorder characterized by extreme squalor and self-neglect. This condition, often discovered incidentally, presents management challenges and a high mortality rate, with its origins remaining unclear.
Area of Science:
- Geriatric Medicine
- Psychiatry
- Psychoanalysis
Context:
- Diogenes syndrome is a rare geriatric behavioral disorder.
- Characterized by extreme self-neglect, domestic squalor, social isolation, and hoarding.
- First described in medical literature in 1966 and 1975.
Purpose:
- To present Diogenes syndrome as a behavioral disorder.
- To explore its clinical features, diagnostic challenges, and management difficulties.
- To offer a psychopathological understanding based on psychoanalytic theory.
Summary:
- The syndrome involves severe self-neglect, squalor, isolation, and object accumulation.
- Management is challenging due to patient's refusal of help and high mortality (46% at 5 years).
- Two types are proposed: active (collecting) and passive (accumulation by default), linked to a damaged 'ego-skin' (Moi-peau) concept.
Impact:
- Highlights the complex clinical and ethical challenges in managing Diogenes syndrome.
- Suggests a psychopathological framework (Moi-peau) for understanding the syndrome's function.
- Underscores the need for ambulatory care and social measures over hospitalization.
