Mind & EmotionGreek → English
Abulia
/əˈbjuːliə/noun
A loss of the ability to decide or to start acting, without loss of understanding or strength.
The Greek roots
ἀ-
a-
not, without
βουλή
boulḗ
will, deliberation
Literally: “without will”
The story of the word
Nineteenth-century physicians used abulia for the patient who can see what needs doing, wants it done, and cannot begin. That is a different complaint from apathy, which lacks the wanting, and from paralysis, which lacks the muscle. Βουλή meant deliberation and also the Council of Five Hundred that prepared business for the Athenian assembly; the Greek parliament still sits under that name. Neurologists now tie abulia to damage in the frontal lobes and the basal ganglia.
- How it travelled
- Ancient Greek → scientific coinage → English
- First recorded
- 19th century
In a sentence
After the stroke he described an abulia so complete he could not choose a shirt.
Abulia is easy to mistake for laziness from the outside.