Decompensation
{{Short description|Medical condition}}
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In medicine, decompensation is the functional deterioration of a structure or system that had been previously working with the help of compensation. Decompensation may occur due to fatigue, stress, illness, or old age. When a system is "compensated," it is able to function despite stressors or defects. Decompensation describes an inability to compensate for these deficiencies. It is a general term commonly used in medicine to describe a variety of situations.
Medical term
For example, cardiac decompensation may refer to the failure of the heart to maintain adequate blood circulation, after long-standing (previously compensated) vascular disease (see heart failure). Short-term treatment of cardiac decompensation can be achieved through administration of dobutamine, resulting in an increase in heart contractility via an inotropic effect.{{cite journal|title=Acute Decompensated Heart Failure|pmc=2801958 |year=2009|journal=Texas Heart Institute Journal|last1=Joseph|display-authors=etal|pmid=20069075|volume=36|issue=6 |pages=510–20}}
Kidney failure can also occur following a slow degradation of kidney function due to an underlying untreated illness; the symptoms of the latter can then become much more severe due to the lack of efficient compensation by the kidney.
Psychology
In psychology, the term refers to an individual's loss of healthy defense mechanisms in response to stress, resulting in personality disturbance or psychological imbalance.{{cite book |first1=Carol D | last1=Tamparo |first2=Marcia A | last2=Lewis |title=Diseases of the Human Body|publisher=F.A. Davis Company|year=2011 |pages=[https://books.google.com/books?id=Hdc-AAAAQBAJ&pg=PA527&q=%22inability%20to%20maintain%20defense%20mechanisms%20in%20response%20to%20stress%22%20%22resulting%20in%20personality%20disturbance%20or%20psychological%20imbalance%22 527] |isbn=978-0803625051}}{{cite web|title=Free Dictionary|url=http://www.thefreedictionary.com/decompensate|website=Free Dictionary|accessdate=29 August 2015}}{{cite book |first=Theodore | last=Millon|title=Disorders of Personality:Introducing a DSM / ICD Spectrum from Normal to Abnormal 3rd Edition|publisher=Wiley|year=2011 |pages=[https://books.google.com/books?id=-u5lAsunPu0C&pg=PA407&q=millon%20persecutory%20delusion%20decompensation%20%22Under%20conditions%20of%20unrelieved%20adversity%20and%20failure%22 407–408] |isbn=978-0470040935}}
References
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External links
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- [http://allpsych.com/psychology101/defenses.html Heffner, C.L. (2001). Psychology 101.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110303220344/http://allpsych.com/psychology101/defenses.html |date=3 March 2011 }}
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20080706122739/http://mentalhelp.net/psyhelp/chap5/chap5j.htm Tucker-Ladd, C.E. (1996–2000). Psychological Self-Help.]