Has anyone heard of this syndrome before? I have this medical book I just got out of the library today and I just happened to open to this page that caught my eye and I was reading about this particular syndrome and Im starting to think that this might be what someone close to me has, because his behavior is irrational and I use to think he was bipolar, but this really seems like what it might be.

I just looked it up and this is about the best I could do with an answer.

Organic Personality Disorder is an old term no longer used in psychiatry. It dates back a number of years, and includes dementia, delirium, psychosis not related to schizophrenia or mood disorders, brain injured patients, patients with diseases that effect behavior, Parkinsonism, etc. Basically, it was what we called folks that acted in a manner consistent with damage to the brain, but not fitting into standard depression, schizophrenia, or anxiety disorders.

The implication was that the disorders like depression or schizophrenia were not organic, which they are. We have since defined patients with delirium, dementia, head injury, viral diseases of the brain, Parkinsonism, etc as their own diseases. All of these use to be Organic Personality Disorders.

It was a term used to lump together several disorders they now have separate diagnosis for.

A persistent personality disturbance that represents a change from the individual's previous characteristic personality pattern. (In children, the disturbance involves a marked deviation from normal development or a significant change in the child's usual behavior patterns lasting at least 1 year).

There is evidence from the history, physical examination, or laboratory findings that the disturbance is the direct physiological consequence of a general medical condition.

Personality alteration due to frontal lobe damage; systemic lupus erythematosis; Huntington's Disease, and many other medical/neurological conditions. The DSM-IV goes on to define several subtypes, such as a "labile, disinhibited, aggressive, apathetic, paranoid", etc.

Thank you for explaining that. Well do you know if someone who was done ecstasy for quite a while can have that syndrome?. Because I believe that does brain damage?.

I believe many drugs are related to people ending up with 'psychiatric type problems also many people that have problems like ADHD and bi-polar are more likely to end up doing drugs. The two are very much related... at least in my opinion.

They say because people who have these issues are always looking for 'something more' and they turn to drugs. Then the drugs mess with their serotonin and other brain functions.

How antipsychotics (probably) work (http://www.nmhct.nhs.uk/pharmacy/moa-neur.htm)

Drugs and the Nervous System (http://users.rcn.com/jkimball.ma.ultranet/BiologyPages/D/Drugs.html)

Serotonin that's what I heard that those kinds of drugs do to you... yeah I always told him I thought he was bi-polar I don't know I know something psychiatric is wrong with him and I hate it.. even his own family thinks its like a chemical imbalance.