Atonic form of mental retardation

Abstract

The analytical review of the literature considered an atonic form of mental retardation in children and adolescents. The authors pay attention to the history of the study of mental atonia in children, etiopathogenesis, typology, clinic and psychological research devoted to the atonic form of mental retardation, and assessment of the current state of the problem. This literature review describes the evolution of concepts of mental atonia with mental retardation in children since the end of the XIX century. Particular attention in the study of clinical and physiological forms of mental retardation, including atonic ones, is given the Leningrad School of Child Psychiatry. The works of prominent psychiatrists and neurophysiologists have allowed considering the problem from the standpoint of the mental tone of norm and pathology, as well as assessing the impact of residual organic brain damage on the formation of mental atonia. The existence of the phenomenon of the lack of mental tone has been proven by numerous clinical studies, instrumental and experimental psychological methods. The study data from the literature has aided in unifying the experience of many scientists, who had worked on the problem of mental atonia during the last century, and identifying the patterns in the development, course and outcome of the atonic form of mental retardation in children.