Echothymia: Environmental Dependency in the Affective Domain

Abstract

Echothymia is stimulus-bound affective behavior, an echophenomenon in the domain of affect. Like echolalia and echopraxia, it is a concomitant of the environmental dependency associated with dysfunction of the frontal-striatal systems that mediate so-called frontal lobe functions. The authors introduce the definition and phenomenology of echothymia, overview its differential diagnosis and clinical significance, and suggest ways in which understanding echothymia may contribute to clinical management.

Managing environmental dependency syndrome in a person with an acquired brain injury: a simple strategy evaluated using an ABABA design (Gestión del síndrome de dependencia ambiental en un paciente con daño cerebral adquirido: una estrategia simple evaluada mediante un diseño ABABA)

“…Otros autores han reportado el síndrome en niños con TDAH (Archibald et al, 2005) y en personas con demencia fronto-temporal (Ghosh & Dutt, 2010). También se ha descrito en trastornos neuropsiquiátricos (Marin & Gorovoy, 2014). Los pacientes con SDA se describen como personas que tienden a coger objetos de su entorno y utilizarlos automáticamente de una forma 'apropiada para el objeto' que es inapropiada para el contexto en particular.…”

“…Others have reported the syndrome in children with ADHD (Archibald et al, 2005) and in people with frontotemporal dementia (Ghosh & Dutt, 2010). It has also been described in neuropsychiatric disorders (Marin & Gorovoy, 2014). Patients with EDS are described as reaching out and automatically using objects in the environment in an 'object-appropriate' manner that is inappropriate for the particular context.…”