Aboulia

Aboulia or abulia (from the Greek βουλή, meaning "will", with the prefix a- used as a privative), in neurology, refers to a lack of will or initiative and can be seen as a disorder of diminished motivation (DDM). Aboulia falls in the middle of the spectrum of diminished motivation, with apathy being less extreme and akinetic mutism being more extreme than aboulia. A patient with aboulia is unable to act or make decisions independently. It may range in severity from subtle to overwhelming. It is also known as Blocq's disease (which also refers to abasia and astasia-abasia). Abulia was originally considered to be a disorder of the will.

Symptoms and signs

Aboulia has been known to clinicians since 1838. However, in the time since its inception, the definition of Aboulia has been subjected to many different forms, some even contradictory with previous ones. Aboulia has been described as a loss of drive, expression, loss of behavior and speech output, slowing and prolonged speech latency, and reduction of spontaneous thought content and initiative. The clinical features most commonly associated with Aboulia are: