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Magill’s Medical Guide, 9th Edition

Frontal lobe syndrome

by Gregory A. Benitz, , PsyD

Category: Disease/Disorder

Anatomy or system affected: Frontal lobe of the brain, disinhibition, impulsivity, personality, regulation of emotion, attention, awareness, execution of sequential tasks

Specialties and related fields: Geropsychology, neurology, neuropsychology, neuroscience, psychology

Definition: An organic disorder of the brain affecting cognitive ability, personality, and behavior.

Key terms:

aneurysm: an expansion of a segment of blood vessel that causes damage to the surrounding areas, sometimes causing additional damage when the weak area bursts, resulting in internal bleeding; brain injury is sustained from both the pressured displacement of brain structures and deterioration of brain tissue caused by blood contact with the brain

anterior: a term of location meaning towards the front

Broca’s area: part of the motor cortex that controls speech; it is typically located in the left hemisphere, just anterior to the ear; lesions to this are associated with speech dysfunction

embolism: a blockage of a blood vessel interrupting blood flow; a cerebral embolism is likely to cause a stroke

frontal lobe: the cerebral cortex of the brain is divided into two sections called hemispheres: the left hemisphere and right hemisphere; each hemisphere is further divided into quadrants called lobes: the frontal lobe is the most anterior lobe, located just behind the eyes; the other lobes are the parietal, occipital, and temporal; the frontal lobe is associated with executive function, thought process, personality, and execution of intentional voluntary physical movement

lesion: a term used to described injury or abnormal change in an area of the brain

motor cortex: the primary, secondary and tertiary motor cortex is part of the frontal lobe that controls movement; this includes speech

CAUSES AND SYMPTOMS

The causes are from traumatic brain injury (TBI), such as a car accident involving a blow to the head or repeated exposure to intense blasts from explosives at a close range; transient ischemic attack (TIA); cerebrovascular accident (CVA), such as an embolism or aneurism; dementia; alcohol abuse (Korsakoff ’s Syndrome) and drug abuse.

Symptoms may include changes in mood such as depression, affect, hypomania, personality traits, ability to make decisions, memory recall, ability to think sequentially, disinhibition, social inappropriateness, apathy, and the ability to communicate ideas.

TREATMENT AND THERAPY

Pharmacological treatment can be combined with neuropsychotherapy and behavioral therapy. The neuropsychological approach often addresses the patient’s impairment by developing strategies of working around deficits in function to facilitate an improved quality of life. In addition, the treatment often emphasizes psychoeducation for people who interact with the patient to help them contextualize the patient’s functioning level, behavior, and personality changes. Behavioral therapy may also be helpful depending on the level of impairment. Other treatments address the psychological symptoms associated with each particular case and implementing the appropriate corresponding treatment.

PERSPECTIVE AND PROSPECTS

One of the first documented cases of frontal lobe syndrome was in 1848. The patient was Phineas Gage, a railway worker who survived having an iron pole driven through his skull from an explosion. The primary area of brain damaged was the left frontal lobe, just behind the left eye. He survived, but those who were familiar with him reported his behavior and personality as uncharacteristic of the person they once knew.

In recent texts, the term is used to indicate a group of syndromes or diagnoses, frontal lobe syndromes, with symptoms indicative of damage to the frontal lobe. Damage is frequently associated with drug and alcohol abuse, chemical exposure, infection, physical trauma, and aging. Practitioners and researchers have pointed out the inherent problems with having an anatomical structure also be the name of a disorder. Some research suggests the symptoms associated with frontal lobe syndrome may not correlate with lesions to the frontal lobe alone, thus pointing out the difficulty of having an anatomical structure as a diagnosis. The diagnosis code for frontal lobe syndrome in the International Code Diagnosis version 9 (ICD-9) has been removed. The ICD-10, scheduled to be released in October, 2014, maps the old diagnosis of frontal lobe syndrome to a diagnosis of personality change due to a known physiological condition. The new edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual for Mental Disorders, version 5, defines neurocognitive disorders (NCDs) as a group of disorders with causes and symptoms of what was termed frontal lobe syndrome. NCDs can present with symptoms of other mental disorders such as mania, hypomania, paranoia, hallucinations, and depression.

Since the behavior of communicating ideas or recalling memories is hindered, it is unclear in each individual case if the person suffers from memory deficits or just the inability or lack of motivation to communicate ideas and memories. Typically, the frontal lobe syndrome would cause a deficit in the organization and execution of sequential tasks, abstract thought, and making meaning, whether it be as simple as the communication of commonalities in apples and bananas, or the complexities of hypothesizing on a construct for the meaning of life.

See also Concussion; Glasgow coma scale; Neurology; Neuropsychology; Neuroscience; Traumatic brain injury

For Further Information:

1 

Buck, Carol J. 2013 ICD-9-CM for Physicians, Volumes 1 and 2 Professional Edition. 1st ed. St. Louis: Elsevier/Saunders, 2012.

2 

Canavan, A.G., I. Janota, and P.H. Schurr. “Luria’s Frontal Lobe Syndrome: Psychological and Anatomical Considerations.” Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery, & Psychiatry, 48, no. 10 (October, 1985) 1049-1053.

3 

Cummings, Jeffrey. Clinical Neuropsychology. Orlando, FL: Grune & Stratton, Inc., 1985.

4 

Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 5th Edition: DSM-5. Arlington, VA: American Psychiatric Publishing, 2013.

5 

Kolb, Bryan, and Ian Q. Whishaw. Fundamentals of Human Neuropsychology. 6th ed. New York: Worth Publishers, 2008.

6 

Levin, Harvey S., Howard M. Eisenberg, and Arthur L. Benton. Frontal Lobe Function and Dysfunction. New York: Oxford University Press, 1991.

7 

Lezak, Muriel D. Neuropsychological Assessment. 3rd ed. New York: Oxford University Press, 1995.

8 

Parind, Shah. Frontal Lobe Syndrome-Affective and Personality Changes with Traumatic Brain Injury. Self-published slideshow: www.slideshare.net/shahparind/frontal-lobe-syndrome, 2008.

9 

Purves, Dale, George J. Augustine, David Fitzpatrick, et. al. Neuroscience. 5th ed. Sunderland, MA: Sinauer, 2012.

10 

Snyder, Peter J., Paul D. Nussbaum, and Diana L. Robins, eds. Clinical Neuropsychology: A Pocket Handbook for Assessment. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association, 2006.

11 

Ziauddeen, H., C. Dibben, C. Kipps, J.R. Hodges, and P.J. McKema. “Negative Schizophrenic Symptoms and the Frontal Lobe Syndrome: One and the Same?” European Archives of Psychiatry and Clinical Neuroscience 261, no. 1 (February, 2011): 59-67.

Citation Types

Type
Format
MLA 9th
Benitz, Gregory A. "Frontal Lobe Syndrome." Magill’s Medical Guide, 9th Edition, edited by Anubhav Agarwal,, Salem Press, 2022. Salem Online, online.salempress.com/articleDetails.do?articleName=MMG2022_0533.
APA 7th
Benitz, G. A. (2022). Frontal lobe syndrome. In A. Agarwal, (Ed.), Magill’s Medical Guide, 9th Edition. Salem Press. online.salempress.com.
CMOS 17th
Benitz, Gregory A. "Frontal Lobe Syndrome." Edited by Anubhav Agarwal,. Magill’s Medical Guide, 9th Edition. Hackensack: Salem Press, 2022. Accessed September 16, 2025. online.salempress.com.