nocturnal delirium

Noun

nocturnal delirium (plural nocturnal deliria)

1. A state of agitation or confusion, especially in elderly patients suffering from Alzheimer's disease or other forms of dementia, which begins daily at nightfall and which is alleviated by daylight.
   • Nocturnal delirium of the senile patient is primarily due to the fact that the severe retention defect, and more particularly the greatly accelerated secondary elaboration (Cameron, 1940) found in senile patients, does not permit of the preservation of the spatial image after darkness has...1941, D. Ewen Cameron MD, “Studies in senile nocturnal delirium”, in Psychiatric Quarterly, volume 15, number 1, page 51
   • The nocturnal deliria were piled together with the daytime intoxications and obsessions in order to build a particularly adaptable dream machine, which still awaits a visit from social psychoanalysis in order to penetrate a bit more lucidly into the ancien régime's intricate labryinth of dreams.1996, Piero Camporesi, Bread of Dreams: Food and Fantasy in Early Modern Europe, page 128

   Synonyms:

   sundowner syndrome, sundowning