Symptom: Personality change

Introduction: Personality change

Further information about Personality change is below, or review more specific information about these types of Personality change: Psychotic Behaviour or other types.

Personality change: Change in a person's behavior and personality. See free access online books about Personality change below. See detailed information below for a list of 157 causes of Personality change, including diseases and drug side effect causes.

» Review Causes of Personality change: full list

Causes of Personality change:

The following medical conditions are some of the possible causes of Personality change. There are likely to be other possible causes, so ask your doctor about your symptoms.

• Mood disorders
  • Stress
  • Anxiety
  • Depression
  • Depressive disorders
  • Premenstrual syndrome
• Brain disorders
  • Traumatic Brain Injury
  • Head injury
  • Stroke
  • Brain tumor
  • Dementia - see also causes of dementia
  • Delirium - see also causes of delirium
  • Alzheimer's Disease
  • Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease
• Toxins affecting the brain:
  • Drug abuse
  • Alcohol abuse
  • Carbon monoxide poisoning - usually in the form of chronic CO poisoning
  • Lead poisoning
• Infections affecting the brain:
  • Meningitis
  • Encephalitis
• Systemic medical disorders
  • Lupus
  • Pernicious anemia
• Tumor of frontal lobe of brain
• Cancer of frontal lobe of brain
• Abscess of frontal lobe of brain (see Abscess)
• Bleeding into frontal lobe of brain

See full list of 157 causes of Personality change

» Review Causes of Personality change: full list

Causes of Types of Personality change:

Review the causes of these more specific types of Personality change:

• Psychotic Behaviour (59 causes)

More types of Personality change

Personality change: Multiple Symptom Checker

Listed below are some combinations of symptoms associated with Personality change, as listed in our database. Visit the Multiple Symptoms Checker, to add and remove symptoms and research your condition.

Multiple Symptom Checker - Other Symptoms

• Personality change: Multiple Symptom Checker

Multiple Symptom Checker Combinations

• Personality change and Behavioral symptoms (136 causes)
• Personality change and Personality symptoms (136 causes)
• Personality change and Mental problems (106 causes)
• Personality change and Muscle symptoms (97 causes)
• Personality change and Movement symptoms (91 causes)
• Personality change and Seizures (88 causes)
• Personality change and Society problems (83 causes)
• Personality change and Head symptoms (81 causes)
• Personality change and Nerve symptoms (81 causes)
• Personality change and Spasms (81 causes)
• Personality change and Muscle spasms (79 causes)
• Personality change and Pain (77 causes)
• Personality change and Sensations (76 causes)
• Personality change and Digestive symptoms (68 causes)
• Personality change and Forgetfulness (67 causes)
• Personality change and Confusion (66 causes)
• Personality change and Weakness (63 causes)
• Personality change and Memory symptoms (61 causes)
• Personality change and Muscle weakness (61 causes)
• Personality change and Emotional symptoms (60 causes)

See full list of 1135 Multiple Symptom Checker combinations related to Personality change

Home Diagnostic Testing and Personality change

Home medical tests possibly related to Personality change:

• Mental Health: Home Testing:
  • Home Emotional Stress Tests

Causes of General Symptom Types

Research the causes of these more general types of symptom:

• Personality symptoms (2477 causes)
• Behavioral symptoms (2767 causes)

Causes of Similar Symptoms to Personality change

Research the causes of these symptoms that are similar to, or related to, the symptom Personality change:

• Depression (259 causes)
• Anxiety (627 causes)
• Personality symptoms (2477 causes)
• Moodiness (59 causes)
• Aggression (94 causes)
• Irritability (379 causes)

Diagnostic Guides for Personality change

12 MEDICAL SYMPTOM BOOKS: FULL TEXT ONLINE! Read the full text of published book sections related to Personality change from the following published medical books for more detailed information about Personality change. Free access (no registration): read all online diagnostic book sections about Personality change

Copyright notice for book excerpts: Copyright © 2008 Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. All rights reserved.

Misdiagnosis and Personality change

Undiagnosed stroke leads to misdiagnosed aphasia: BBC News UK reported on a man who had been institutionalized and treated for mental illness because he suffered from sudden inability to speak. This was initially misdiagnosed as a "nervous breakdown" and other...read more »

Dementia may be a drug interaction: A common scenario in aged care is for a patient to show mental decline to dementia. Whereas this can, of course, occur...read more »

ADHD under-diagnosed in adults: Although the over-diagnoses of ADHD in children is a well-known controversy, the reverse side related to adults...read more »

Bipolar disorder misdiagosed as various conditions by primary physicians: Bipolar disorder (manic-depressive disorder) often fails to be diagnosed correctly by primary care physicians. Many patients with bipolar seek help from their physician,...read more »

Eating disorders under-diagnosed in men: The typical patient with an eating disorder is female. The result is that men with eating disorders often fail to be diagnosed or have a...read more »

Depression undiagnosed in teenagers: Serious bouts of depression can be undiagnosed in teenagers. The "normal" moodiness of teenagers can cause severe medical depression to be overlooked. See misdiagnosis of depression or symptoms...read more »

Undiagnosed anxiety disorders related to depression: Patients with depression (see symptoms of depression) may also have undiagnosed anxiety disorders (see ...read more »

Read more about Misdiagnosis and Personality change

Diagnostic tests for Personality change:

Various tests are used in the diagnosis of Personality change. Some of these are listed below :

• Mental state examination - including appearance, behavior, rate and continuity of speech, mood, affect, thought content, evidence of any hallucinations or abnormal beliefs, orientation to time, place and person, attention and concentration, short-term memory, insight and judgement - Can help diagnose depression, anxiety and psychosis.
• Mini-mental state examination - if dementia is suspected test memory and cognitive function.
• Physical examination
  • Signs of delirium? - examine for signs that personality change may be due to delirium rather than mental illness or dementia ( e.g. temperature, neck stiffness may suggest meningitis, encephalitis or subarachnoid hemorrhage; neurological examination to look for focal neurological signs and papilledema may suggest stroke, brain cancer or traumatic brain injury).
  • If suspect multi-infarct dementia, examine for signs of vascular pathology e.g. high blood pressure, signs of previous strokes

See full list of 26 diagnostic tests for Personality change

Diagnosis Checklist: Questions your doctor may ask (and why!)

During a consultation, your doctor will use various techniques in their assessment of Personality change. Your doctor may ask several questions when assessing your condition. It is important to remember that your consultation is a two-way process and any extra information you can share with your doctor about your symptoms may help them with their diagnosis. Some of the questions your doctor may ask are listed below:

• How long has there been a personality change? - to determine if acute or chronic. If onset is rapid and symptoms have been present for hours to weeks must consider delirium as possible cause of personality change. Delirium is an acute confusional state due to many causes e.g. infection, drug intoxication, alcohol withdrawal, liver failure, kidney failure, hypoxia, low blood sugar, stroke, heart attack or head injury. If the onset is slow and insidious and symptoms have been present for months to years a diagnosis of dementia, psychiatric illness or intellectual disability may be more likely.
• What are the features of the personality change? - e.g. impulsivity, hyperactivity, aggression, paranoia, negativity, moody, irritability.
• Do you feel that you are coping well?
• Has anything changed in your life?
• What are your stressors at the moment? - Questions specifically about relationship, family, children, social support, occupation, general physical health and financial stresses. Significant stressors may cause personality change or moodiness or may increase the risk of depression and insomnia.

See Diagnosis Checklist for Personality change (40 listings)

Diagnosis Checklist: Associated symptoms your doctor may ask about (and why!)

Sometimes, other symptoms may be present and may help your doctor analyse your condition. The symptoms your doctor may ask about (in association with Personality change) may include:

• Fever? - may suggest any infection that may cause delirium e.g. urinary tract infection, viral gastroenteritis, viral upper respiratory tract infection, ear infection, meningitis, encephalitis.
• Memory impairment? - Dementia causes impaired memory, impaired judgement and thinking, impaired verbal fluency and impaired ability to perform complex tasks. Personality may change, impulse control may be lost and personal care deteriorates. People with dementia may also have psychiatric symptoms such as delusions, paranoid ideas, hallucinations, mood disturbance and behavioral disturbance.
• Headache? - may suggest brain cancer, acute stroke, meningitis or encephalitis. Headache may also occur among the range of physical symptoms experienced with depression and tend to mask the diagnosis of depression.
• Symptoms of depression? - e.g. depressed mood, crying spells, irritability, anhedonia (loss of interest or pleasure), increase or decrease in appetite (usually decreased), weight loss or gain, insomnia or increased sleeping (usually early morning waking), fatigue, loss of energy, feelings of worthlessness, feelings of excessive guilt, poor concentration, difficulty making decisions, low libido, thoughts of death or suicide attempt.
• Symptoms of Manic-depression? - e.g. episodes of depression (often psychotic in intensity) and at other times episodes of psychotic excitement (mania or hypomania). Symptoms of psychotic excitement may include elevation of mood, increased activity, grandiose ideas, irritability, disinhibition (which affects social, sexual and financial behavior), rapid speech and racing thought, delusions (persecutory or grandiose) and sometimes hallucinations.

See Diagnosis Checklist for Personality change (40 listings)

Stories from Users for Personality change

Symptom specific forums: The following patient stories in our interactive forums and message boards relate to Personality change or relevant symptoms:

• Cardiovascular (Heart and Blood Circulation) (171)
  • Chest pain and shortness of breath
  • Hand numbness
  • Purple-blue skin color
  • Need help with diagnoses
  • Anxiety and high BP
  • More user stories
• Neurological (Nerves) (357)
  • Could this be MS?
  • Numbness and tingling all over
  • Tingling/numbness in arms/hands/legs/face/head [more symptoms]
  • Eye twitch
  • Essential tremor
  • More user stories
• Psychiatric (Mental Health) (218)
  • PLEASE can anyone help my son?!
  • My husbands making me sad
  • Heart condition or mental health problem?
  • Anxiety or...?
  • Weird Behavior at School. Normal?
  • More user stories
• Endocrine (Growth and Metabolism) (93)
  • Symptoms of Cushing's - Tests all negative
  • Has anyone been diagnosed with Wilson's Temperature Syndrome and are being treated??
  • Pitutary tumor
  • I am at my wits end with these symptoms
  • I think I have Cushings, can you help?
  • More user stories

Videos for Personality change

Patient Surveys for Personality change

• Patient Profile Survey
  Take Survey  View Results
• Survey about diseases related to your Personality change
  Take Survey  View Results

Medications or substances causing Personality change:

The following drugs, medications, substances or toxins are some of the possible causes of Personality change as a symptom. Always advise your doctor of any medications or treatments you are using, including prescription, over-the-counter, supplements, herbal or alternative treatments.

• Chloroquine Phosphate
• Aralen Phosphate
• Chloroquine and Primaquine
• Aralen Phosphate with Primaquine Phosphate
• Mysoline

See full list of 45 medications causing Personality change

Drug interactions causing Personality change:

When combined, certain drugs, medications, substances or toxins may react causing Personality change as a symptom. Always advise your doctor of any medications or treatments you are using, including prescription, over-the-counter, supplements, herbal or alternative treatments.

• Bumex (Bumetanide) and Lanoxin (Digoxin) interaction
• Diachlor (Chlorothiazide) and Lanoxin (Digoxin) interaction
• Diuril (Chlorothiazide) and Lanoxin (Digoxin) interaction
• Diucardin (Hydroflumethiazide) and Lanoxin (Digoxin) interaction
• Saluron (Hydroflumethiazide) and Lanoxin (Digoxin) interaction

See full list of 12 drug interactions causing Personality change

Organs affected by Personality change:

The list of organs typically affected by Personality change may include, but is not limited to:

• Brain

Detailed list of causes of Personality change

The list below shows some of the causes of Personality change mentioned in various sources:

• Abscess of frontal lobe of brain
• Achromatopsia - personality changes
• ACTH Deficiency - psychosis
• Addison's Disease - reduced tolerance to emotional stress
• Adrenal adenoma, familial - personality changes

See full list of 157 causes of Personality change

How Common are these Causes of Personality change?

This information refers to the general prevalence and incidence of these diseases, not to how likely they are to be the actual cause of Personality change. Of the 157 causes of Personality change that we have listed, we have the following prevalence/incidence information:

• 6 causes are "very common" diseases
• 10 causes are "common" diseases
• 5 causes are "uncommon" diseases
• 2 causes are "rare" diseases
• 10 causes are "very rare" diseases
• 141 causes have no prevalence information.

See the analysis of the prevalence of 157 causes of Personality change

Conditions listing symptoms: Personality change:

The following list of conditions have 'Personality change' or similar listed as a symptom in our database. This computer-generated list may be inaccurate or incomplete. Always seek prompt professional medical advice about the cause of any symptom.

A

Causes of Personality change Based on Risk Factors

This information shows analysis of the list of causes of Personality change based on whether certain risk factors apply to the patient: