ABULIA

ABULIA (from the Greek a - negative particle, and boule - will), a psychopathological symptom consisting in the reduction of the active energy of the patient; objectively, all movements are limited and personal initiative is absent; subjectively, it is experienced as a sharp weakening of all drives, desires, and interests. Such a higher degree of abulia is one of the most essential signs of the catatonic form of schizophrenia (see Stupor). In other cases, the drives, desires, and interests of the patient are not significantly impaired, however, due to general inhibition and rigidity, they cannot be transformed into an adequate voluntary act [cyclothymia (see) in the depressive phase]. In some borderline conditions, psychoneuroses, and degenerative psychopathies, the weakening of the energy of the patient's actions occurs due to the constant struggle of contradictory aspirations, fluctuations, and uncertainty, explained by the general disharmony of the personality; such abulia is especially typical for psychasthenia, psychoneurosis with a constitutional tendency of patients to obsessive states.