Disorientation for Age

Abstract

It has often been noticed that patients in amnesic states are prone to underestimate their age. In cases of Korsakov's psychosis this under-estimation may be very gross, and its extent appears to be determined, in part at least, by the duration of retrograde amnesia (Meggendorfer, 1928). A similar, if less extreme, under-estimation of age may also occur in the early stages of recovery after head-injury. In a recent study Weinstein and Kahn (1951) refer to this phenomenon as disorientation for age and adduce some striking examples. Thus one of their patients, a woman of over 70, insisted that she was 38. These authors do not, however, attempt a systematic analysis of this facet of disorientation.