Synonyms
Asthenia
Definition
Adynamia refers to a general weakness and lack of energy evident through lack of verbal or overt behavior due to a disease or neurological conditions. It can manifest as lethargy, loss of strength, weakness in extremities, and difficulty initiating activities or completing tasks. Adynamia can be observed after trauma to the frontal lobes, multiple sclerosis, and other conditions. In language, verbal adynamia (lack of spontaneity of speech) is seen with lesions of the medial frontal lobes and refers to difficulty in initiation and maintenance of language output.
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Berrios, G. E. (2008). Classic text no. 76: ‘Asthenia’ by A. Dechambre (1865). History of Psychiatry, 19(4), 490–501.
Caplan, D. (1987). Neurolinguistics and linguistic aphasiology: An introduction. New York: Cambridge University Press.
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Piryatinsky, I. (2018). Adynamia. In: Kreutzer, J.S., DeLuca, J., Caplan, B. (eds) Encyclopedia of Clinical Neuropsychology. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-57111-9_1875
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-57111-9_1875
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