Disorders of diminished motivation

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Appropriate levels of motivation are important elements in healthy living. Where physical of mental disorders are present they can result in the disorders of diminished motivation which can themselves exacerbate these problems and cause others. They may therefore be a primary clinical disturbance, a symptom of another disorder, or a coexisting secondary disorder.

The major syndromes of diminished motivation are:

• Apathy
• Abulia
• Akinetic mutism

Causes

Such disorders can occur frequently in individuals with:

• Clinical depression
• Traumatic brain injury.

Further reading

• al Adawi S, Powell JH, Greenwood RJ. Motivational deficits after brain injury: a neuropsychologicalapproach using new assessment techniques.Neuropsychology. 1998;12:115-124.
• Marin RS. Apathy and related disorders of diminished motivation. In: Dickstein LJ, Riba MB, Oldham JM, eds. Review of Psychiatry. Washington, DC:American Psychiatric Press Inc; 1996:205-242.