Abulia following an episode of cardiac arrest

Abstract

The word 'abulia' means a lack of will, initiative or drive. The symptoms of abulia include lack of spontaneous action and speech, reduced emotional responsiveness and social interaction, poor attention and easy distractibility. These symptoms are independent of reduced levels of consciousness or cognitive impairment. We describe a case of a socially active 72-year-old female patient who presented with symptoms of abulia which may have occurred due to damage of the frontosubcortical circuits following an episode of cardiac arrest. The patient's symptoms improved dramatically following treatment with bromocriptine.