ABSTRACT
Korsakoff’s syndrome is a pervasive memory disorder resulting from extensive thiamine deficiency usually associated with chronic severe alcoholism and characterized by amnesia for both past and current events. Korsakoff patients are prone to filling in gaps in their memory with confabulations, especially in talking about their personal past and present lives. Two types of confabulation exist in different stages of the syndrome: spontaneous confabulations, which generally involve grandiose content and usually disappear within weeks after the development of the syndrome; and provoked confabulations, in which the erroneous memories that are communicated are generally plausible and can often be found in the chronic stage of the syndrome. In their affective functioning, patients with Korsakoff’s syndrome may at times be emotionally flat and affectively detached, but they are frequently irritable or euphoric as well, and they usually remain affectively unstable throughout the rest of their lives.
