General symptom

Classification according to ICD-10
R50-R69	General symptoms
ICD-10 online (WHO version 2019)

General symptoms are non-specific symptoms. Although they can indicate certain diseases as symptoms , they are not necessarily usable in the sense of a precisely defined symptomatology . Rather, they give rise to differential diagnostic considerations insofar as they occur in different disease units. For example, they do not allow any conclusions to be drawn about physical localization and are not pathognomonic for a specific cause of the disease or aetiology . They are nosographically significant, but only to a small extent nosologically of weight. Defined nosological criteria generally do not apply to general symptoms. At best, they are of epidemiological interest.

Delimitations

The term general symptom must be distinguished from that of the general disease . Even if general symptoms such as fever affect the whole body, this is only intended to express the unspecific importance in the differential diagnosis of individual infectious diseases . For the entire group of infectious diseases, fever is more of a specific symptom. Symptoms that are an expression of a general illness, such as B. Hair loss .

Comparison of specific and non-specific symptoms

Among the neurological symptoms, in addition to the somewhat specific symptoms known for certain brain processes, there are also general signs that are not specific for a certain clearly localizable brain process: seizures , intracranial pressure symptoms , headache , etc. On the other hand, choral twitches are considered specific for certain brain processes ( Affection of the basal ganglia ), nystagmus ( dizziness ), intention tremor ( Parkinson's disease ), chanting language ( cerebellar affection ), reflex pupillary rigidity ( tabes dorsalis ). The actual mental changes are probably not specific to any particular organic brain process, although the frequency with which certain changes occur is characteristic of individual mental disorders.

Examples

The general symptoms also include:

Web links

Med. Online lexicon

Individual evidence

^ ^A ^b Karl Jaspers : General Psychopathology . Springer, Berlin ⁹ 1973, ISBN 3-540-03340-8 ; P. 400 ff. On the “General Symptom”.
^ Rudolf Degkwitz et al. (Ed.): Mentally ill . Introduction to Psychiatry for Clinical Study. Urban & Schwarzenberg, Munich 1982, ISBN 3-541-09911-9 ; Part II. Description and structure of mental illness; Cape. 5.1 Terms from general pathology, column indicated below with ~: - pp. 47 ~ 1, 48 ~ 1-2, 52 ~ 2 on stw. "Nosography".
^ Robert Hegglin : Differentialdignosis of internal diseases . Textbook for doctors and students. Georg Thieme, Stuttgart 1966, p. 61 on “Hair loss”.

[APP-1] A ^b Karl Jaspers : General Psychopathology . Springer, Berlin ⁹ 1973, ISBN 3-540-03340-8 ; P. 400 ff. On the “General Symptom”.

[PSK-2] Rudolf Degkwitz et al. (Ed.): Mentally ill . Introduction to Psychiatry for Clinical Study. Urban & Schwarzenberg, Munich 1982, ISBN 3-541-09911-9 ; Part II. Description and structure of mental illness; Cape. 5.1 Terms from general pathology, column indicated below with ~: - pp. 47 ~ 1, 48 ~ 1-2, 52 ~ 2 on stw. "Nosography".

[DIK-3] Robert Hegglin : Differentialdignosis of internal diseases . Textbook for doctors and students. Georg Thieme, Stuttgart 1966, p. 61 on “Hair loss”.