Introductory notes to the psychodynamics of a case of Klüver-Bucy syndrome

Abstract

Klüver-Bucy syndrome (KBS) is a neuropsychiatric syndrome secondary to damage in anterior temporolimbic structures. It is composed of severe cognitive, behavioral, and affective symptoms. The case of a young woman who developed a KBS after a multiphasic acute disseminated encephalomyelitis is examined. The clinical material is taken from multiple hospitalizations in the Neuropsychiatric Unit of the National Institute of Neurology and Neurosurgery in Mexico City and from multiple diagnostic interviews with the patient and her family during ambulatory care. A series of correlations will be made between neuropsychiatric symptoms, neuropsychological data, neuroanatomical lesions as shown on neuroimaging, and first-person subjective data. This will be done with the purpose of sketching the psychodynamics of this particular patient while dealing at the same time with relevant issues for the understanding of the inner world of this type of cases. As the patient did not undergo psychoanalytic therapy, any data emerging from this single case study should be taken as introductory in nature. This case points out the need of developing new concepts to describe psychopathological manifestations, as they are understood in metapsychology, when applied to neuropsychiatric patients. In this regard, the term “psychodynamic phenocopy” is proposed.