This article needs additional citations for verification. (September 2011) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)
|Part of a series of articles on|
In medicine, decompensation is the functional deterioration of a structure or system that had been previously working with the help of allostatic compensation. Decompensation may occur due to fatigue, stress, illness, or old age. When a system is "compensated", it is able to function despite stressors or defects. Decompensation describes an inability to compensate for these deficiencies. It is a general term commonly used in medicine to describe a variety of situations.
For example, cardiac decompensation may refer to the failure of the heart to maintain adequate blood circulation, after long-standing (previously compensated) vascular disease (see heart failure). Short-term treatment of cardiac decompensation can be achieved through administration of dobutamine, resulting in an increase in heart contractility via an inotropic effect.
Kidney failure can also occur following a slow degradation of kidney function due to an underlying untreated illness; the symptoms of the latter can then become much more severe due to the lack of efficient compensation by the kidney.
In psychology, the term refers to the inability to maintain defense mechanisms in response to stress, resulting in personality disturbance or psychological imbalance. Some who suffer from narcissistic personality disorder or borderline personality disorder may decompensate into persecutory delusions to defend against a troubling reality.
- Joseph; et al. (2009). "Acute Decompensated Heart Failure". Texas Heart Institute Journal. 36: 510–20. PMC 2801958. PMID 20069075.
- Carol D Tamparo; Marcia A Lewis (2011). Diseases of the Human Body. F.A. Davis Company. pp. 527. ISBN 978-0803625051.
- "Free Dictionary". Free Dictionary. Retrieved 29 August 2015.
- Theodore Million (2011). Disorders of Personality:Introducing a DSM / ICD Spectrum from Normal to Abnormal 3rd Edition. Wiley. pp. 407–408. ISBN 978-0470040935.
|Look up decompensation in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.|