Neuropsychiatric symptoms in brain diseases - historical foundations.

Neuropsychiatric symptoms, which may appear alone or combined with cognitive and neurological manifestations, are frequent in many brain dysfunctions or lesions due to vascular, traumatic, neurodegenerative, or systemic conditions. Throughout history, many of the most prominent names have contributed to the clinical definition of the currently recognized mental symptoms and syndromes. The present paper aims at providing a comprehensive overview of the development, from ancient to modern times, of some widely known concepts and constructs about such neuropsychiatric disorders.