Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 6, 2026

Assessing Burrowing, Nest Construction, and Hoarding in Mice
Published on: January 5, 2012
Living in squalor: neuropsychological function, emotional processing and squalor perception in patients found living
Carol Gregory1, Graeme Halliday, John Hodges
1Greater Western Area Health Service, NSW, Australia.
Background:
Patients living in squalor have a wide range of psychiatric diagnoses, but these may have a common neural basis involving frontal systems. This study investigated frontal executive function, theory of mind, emotional processing including disgust, and appreciation of squalor in elderly patients found living in squalor.
Methods:
Six patients referred to an old age psychiatry service underwent a battery of neuropsychological tests, assessment of living conditions and awareness of self and others' squalor.
Results:
All six patients showed impairment in frontal executive function, typically accompanied by amnesic deficits. Theory of mind and emotional processing were surprisingly preserved. While five of the patients could recognize severely unclean or cluttered living conditions in newspaper photographs, more than half did not appreciate that their own living conditions were squalid.
Conclusion:
Deficits in frontal executive function appear important in the genesis of squalor although functions linked to orbito-frontal ability appear preserved.
Related Concept Videos
Negative and Cognitive Symptoms of Schizophrenia
Negative Symptoms
Negative symptoms of schizophrenia manifest as deficits in normal emotional and behavioral functioning, profoundly impacting daily life. Individuals with schizophrenia often display a flat affect, characterized by a near-total absence of emotional expression,...
Positive Symptoms of Schizophrenia: Hallucinations and Delusions
Thought Disorders
Disorganized and unusual thought processes mark thought disorders in schizophrenia. One key feature is disorganized speech, where an individual's conversation includes loosely...
Schizophrenia
Introduction to Psychological Disorders
Deviant Behavior
Deviance in behavior refers to actions or thought patterns that significantly diverge from societal norms or...
Psychological and Sociocultural Causes of Schizophrenia
Personality Disorders: Schizotypal and Histrionic
Schizotypal Personality Disorder: Eccentric Behavior and Social Withdrawal
Schizotypal personality disorder is marked by odd or eccentric...

