Premorbidity
State of function before disease onset, especially in psychology.
Premorbidity describes how well a person was functioning before a disease or illness appeared. While the term is most common in psychology—covering things like a person’s prior personality or intelligence—it also applies to physical health, such as lung function or heart rate before a medical condition develops.
In psychology, premorbidity is mainly used to track changes in personality, intelligence, or cognitive abilities. For instance, personality shifts often follow traumatic brain injuries that damage the frontal lobes; a well-known case is Phineas Gage, who survived a tamping iron passing through his head during railway construction. Declines from a person’s previous level of intelligence or other cognitive skills are seen after stroke, traumatic brain injury, dementia, and in mental illnesses like depression and schizophrenia. Researchers also study premorbid adjustment—how well someone functioned before illness—because it can predict the course of conditions such as schizophrenia. Identifying premorbid personality patterns may help pinpoint populations at risk for developing schizophrenia.
Clinically, the DSM-IV-TR lists paranoid, schizoid, and schizotypal personality disorders as possible premorbid conditions for schizophrenia. Related terms include prodrome.
- field
- Psychology and clinical medicine
- known_for
- Describing pre‑disease functional baselines, especially in personality, intelligence, and cognitive function
Lore & Background
In psychology, premorbidity is most often used in relation to changes in personality, intelligence, or cognitive function. Changes in personality are common in cases of traumatic brain injury involving the frontal lobes, the most famous example being the case of Phineas Gage, who survived having a tamping iron shot through his head in a railway construction accident. Declines from premorbid levels of intelligence and other cognitive functions are observed in stroke, traumatic brain injury, dementia, as well as in mental illnesses such as depression and schizophrenia.
Reader's Guide
Premorbidity serves as a critical baseline for assessing decline in psychological and medical conditions. In clinical usage, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition, Text Revision (DSM‑IV‑TR) lists paranoid, schizoid, and schizotypal personality disorders as conditions that may be premorbid to the onset of schizophrenia. Efforts are also being made to identify premorbid personality profiles for certain illnesses, such as schizophrenia, to determine at‑risk populations. The concept of premorbid adjustment has important implications for the prognosis of mental illness, particularly schizophrenia. By establishing a patient's prior level of function, clinicians can better measure the impact of disease and track recovery or deterioration.
Did You Know?
- Premorbidity can refer to psychological function (e.g., premorbid personality or intelligence) or other medical conditions (e.g., premorbid lung function or heart rate).
- The most famous example of personality change after traumatic brain injury is Phineas Gage, who survived a tamping iron through his head.
- In the DSM‑IV‑TR, paranoid, schizoid, and schizotypal personality disorders may be diagnosed as conditions premorbid to schizophrenia.
- Declines from premorbid intelligence are observed in stroke, traumatic brain injury, dementia, depression, and schizophrenia.
More in Symptoms 1-24
Spotted an error? Know more?
This is a living reference — every entry is fact-audited, and reader corrections feed straight into our audit queue. Suggest an edit · See this site's audit record