Journal of Psychiatry

Frontal lobe syndrome: A case report

4^th Euro-Global Congress on Psychiatrists & Forensic Psychology

November 10-11, 2016 Alicante, Spain

Hedayati Zahra

Legal Medicine Organization, Iran

Posters & Accepted Abstracts: J Psychiatry

Abstract:

Frontal cortex is responsible for planning of behaviors, controlling of the emotions, goal-oriented classification of mental activities, forecasting the consequences, ability to solve the complex abstract problems and controlling the functions according to the social rules. Frontal lobe symptoms, such as apathy, abulia and akinesia or on the contrary impulsiveness and aggressive behavior, change feel or express emotions, are widely described in literature. This case report is of a patient of 27 years old, single man who was subjected to forensic observation and was charged with appropriation of money to the detriment of the office he worked for by municipality. He was employed over the period of 8 years as an accountant. Until the disclosure of the crime he had had the municipality's full confidence and a fine reputation at the place of his residence as well. 2 years before undertaking criminal actions he had sustained a head injury (temporal linear fracture) as a result of a car accident; before he had not been penalized administratively or legally. After brain injury he had suffered from head injuries with a loss of consciousness less than 4 hours. After 4 months he was asymptomatic. During forensic and psychiatric observation, psychiatric, psychological, neurological and electroencephalographic examinations were carried out, skull films were taken and computerized and tomography of head was conducted. Clinically it was diagnosed as a frontal organic brain damage syndrome complicated by mood swings and depression. Experts' examinations were steered by psychopathological image, especially axial symptoms of defective function of the frontal lobe, lack of initiative and spontaneity, deficiency of higher emotions, decline of criticism and lowering of psychomotor drive. Although psychological examination showed that the results of organic tests were within normal range, qualitative analysis of the structure of mental functions disclosed impairment of abstract thinking, especially using associative processes. Essential data were gathered from computerized tomography of head which demonstrated cortical atrophy of frontal and temporal lobes and pericentral gyri. However, neurological and electroencephalographic examinations did not bring any significant information.

Biography :

Email: z_hedy@yahoo.com