Organic brain syndromes: new classification, concepts and prospects

The concept, definitions and classification of organic mental disorders have been radically revised in DSM-III, the new American classification. Seven organic brain syndromes have been included and their diagnostic criteria explicitly formulated. The boundary between so-called functional and organic mental disorders has been blurred. The author discusses these changes in the light of growing importance of organic psychiatry due to aging of the population and the high incidence and prevalence of organic mental disorders in the elderly.