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Encyclopedia entry: delirium

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The Oxford Companion to the Body
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delirium is a widely-used diagnostic category used to denote a confused and excited state. It has been recognized ever since antiquity. Plato stated that there were four kinds of delirium; that of the prophets sent by Apollo, that of the ‘initiated’ sent by Dionysus, that of the poets due to the Muses, and that of lovers caused by Aphrodite and Eros.

The core symptoms are disturbances of consciousness accompanied by a change in cognition. The disturbance develops over a period of hours or days, and tends to fluctuate. A patient may be coherent and co-operative in the morning but at night insist on leaving hospital and going home to long-dead parents. Maniacal excitement often ...

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