From Abalienatio Mentis to Modern Dementia Models

• abalienare — The act of alienating or the state resulting from it; mental alienation, derangement of the mind, or loss of cognitive psychological faculties. In Latin medical terminology and early neurology textbooks, 'abalienatio mentis' designated a global collapse of intellectual functions, serving as a conceptual predecessor to the modern terms dementia, psychosis, or severe psychic dissociation.