Responses
Other responses
Jump to comment:
- Published on: 27 September 2017
- Published on: 27 September 2017‘Organic’ and ‘non-organic’
Stone and Carson(1) say:
‘Non-organic refers to things unrelated to living matter,… This is a word that cannot be used to describe conditions suffered by living human beings.’ They refer ‘to the OED sense: “something characterised by structural or other pathological change in an organ or organs”. They acknowledge it was useful ‘in the 19th century when neurologists first saw the pathology of multiple sclerosis or motor neurone disease. But what about genetic generalised epilepsy or migraine—pathological, but not necessarily structural, or at least no more so than, for example, unipolar depression where there is quite substantial evidence for structural changes. ’(2)They are right to point out the difficulties in separating ‘functional and non-organic’ disorders from those with structural or ultrastructural abnormalities but they should not be ‘blackballed from the club of legitimate conditions because of the difficulty in establishing their veracity.’
Most of us understand that epilepsy, migraine and spasmodic torticollis, for example, have underlying structural or other subtle abnormalities; the fact that modern techniques don't always disclose the organic basis does not mean they are psychogenic, do not exist, or are illegitimate.
Functional was originally the result of altered function (rather than structure) of an organ, system, etc.; but its meaning confusingly changed to a psychological cause as opposed to a physical one. The term...
Show MoreConflict of Interest:
None declared.
Other content recommended for you
- Reflex sympathetic dystrophy
- Complex regional pain syndrome and functional neurological disorders – time for reconciliation
- Malingering and factitious disorder
- ODD AND UNUSUAL MOVEMENT DISORDERS
- Reversal of hypoaesthesia by nerve block, or placebo: a psychologically mediated sign in chronic pseudoneuropathic pain patients
- Functional neurological disorders: the neurological assessment as treatment
- ‘ A Leg to Stand On ’ by Oliver Sacks: a unique autobiographical account of functional paralysis
- Functional symptoms and signs in neurology: assessment and diagnosis
- Are functional motor and sensory symptoms really more frequent on the left? A systematic review
- Do antidepressants increase the risk of mania and bipolar disorder in people with depression? A retrospective electronic case register cohort study