Talk:Clouding of consciousness

This paragraph seems to be based in conjecture and loose associations, potentially as WP:SYNTH. --Zefr (talk) 03:05, 27 November 2017 (UTC)

It may be represented in such conditions as minimal hepatic encephalopathy (also known as subclinical hepatic encephalopathy or latent hepatic encephalopathy),^[1] subclinical Wernicke's encephalopathy, candidiasis,^[2] Lyme disease,^[3] anaphylaxis,^[4] intestinal tapeworms^[5] and lupus erythematosus.^[6] The condition whereby intestinal faecal toxins bypass the liver poisoning the brain causing clouding of consciousness used to be referred to as "autointoxication" but is now referred to as "hepatic encephalopathy".^{[7][8][9][10][11]} Minimal hepatic encephalopathy reduces quality of life by impairing work activities, social interactions, and driving, but it does not affect basic daily life activities such as dressing, personal hygiene, eating, shopping, answering the phone, or taking public transportation.^[1] Patients with MHE may even exhibit normal cognitive performances, but overall productivity may suffer from inattentiveness and fatigue secondary to attention abnormalities.^[1]

I know vaguely what “brain fog” is, in a general sense as I’ve experienced it – who hasn’t. Yet this article doesn’t help at all to give me a more precise and expanded understanding of the concept. I’d never heard of “clouding of consciousness” and this article has left me utterly confused. What exactly is clouding of consciousness? Is it identical to the concept of brain fog? The explanation is all over the place and difficult to understand. What leads to this phenomenon, both in terms of ultimate vs. proximate causes? It’s categorized as a symptom – what are the psychological and biological diseases associated with it? Are there treatments? Etc.

It seems like this concept has been so technically defined that it’s impossible to write about. Similarly, the regulation of sources seems to be so strict that nothing can actually be said. I understand that standards for referencing need to be very high for medical information, yet in this case it seems to lead to an inability to adequately explain, expand, and clarify the article. The problem seems to be that many sources describe exactly the phenomenon of "clouding of consciousness" or "brain fog," basically as described here (I think? It's not described here very clearly), but they don't actually give these symptoms a formal name. Yet, many sources still describe the subject of this article despite not naming it so precisely.

It also strikes me that "clouding of consciousness" is such a formal concept that it almost doesn't correspond with the way the average person uses the term "brain fog" as simply meaning that one's brain isn’t working normally and is slowed/blocked/foggy rather than the very technical descriptions presented relating to states of consciousness and delirium. If you read about "brain fog" on patient forums, for instance, it's rarely used in such a technical way. I was looking for an article describing this broader, more general use term ("brain fog"), along with its possible causes and it's a shame that doesn't exist as I’m now left to the speculation of blogs and clickbait. It makes me wish there could be a separate article just for “brain fog.”

I almost never edit Wikipedia articles - this is only my second because this article is far below my standards as an average user of Wikipedia. It’s supposed to be an encyclopedia for general information, not a doctor or medical journal (as stated in Wikipedia:Medical disclaimer and Wikipedia:Make technical articles understandable). But I guess my frustration should really be with the medical community for not working to research and understand this phenomenon better. Sorry for the rant, just disappointed is all since this is such a common and exasperating symptom.

Main Question: What exactly is meant by the medical term “clouding of consciousness”? If I understood it I would try to answer this myself, but I don’t. Is it actually equivalent to the much more casual and relatable concept of “brain fog”? It seems that if the definition were clearer, it would be easier to know what to look for when researching sources and expanding the article to make it more understandable to nonexperts (like me). For reference, the articles on Delirium and Fatigue seem to be much more effective. Tangelopixi (talk) 07:40, 27 November 2017 (UTC)

Suggest you introduce the topic to the Wikiproject Medicine talk page at WT:MED. Best that it's kept to a focused issue. --Zefr (talk) 15:05, 27 November 2017 (UTC)

Seriously, WTF? Can someone please take the initiative to rewrite or retool this awful article so that it makes the least bit of sense whatsoever? Or is this some elaborate joke where the article is supposed to induce brain fog in people who read it?142.68.172.51 (talk) 04:11, 4 March 2018 (UTC)

A discussion is taking place to address the redirect Brain fog. The discussion will occur at Wikipedia:Redirects for discussion/Log/2020 December 19#Brain fog until a consensus is reached, and readers of this page are welcome to contribute to the discussion. WhatamIdoing (talk) 23:03, 19 December 2020 (UTC)

"Clouding of consciousness" is a completely un-used term as of 2025. If it has any connotations it is with drowsiness (i.e. near-sleep states) or drug-taking; both very different from cog fog in common usage as a cognitive problem and symptom associated with brain damage and conditions such as fibromyalgia.Asto77 (talk) 09:28, 28 May 2025 (UTC)

It does seem like "Brain fog" is the WP:COMMONNAME. There's over twice as many Google Scholar results for Brain fog v.s "clouding of consciousness", but more importantly, if we restrict it to recent results, the difference is outrageously lopsided - ~16900 vs. ~1000. That heavily suggests that "clouding of consciousness" is no longer in common use. Additionally, many of the recent usages of "clouding of consciousness" don't seem to be using it in the diagnostic sense, and many others are using to refer to historical usage. "Brain fog" seems to be the preferred term for papers discussing it as a formal clinical concept today. EDIT: One thing I would add is that usage may have shifted in the past five years; COVID resulted in a lot more coverage and discussion around it, since it's one of the things COVID can cause. In fact, the article should probably have more than the brief sentence on that that it does currently. --Aquillion (talk) 10:37, 28 May 2025 (UTC)

Support brain fog. Oppose cog fog. Brain fog is the common term, cog fog is... well... the uncommon term. Lova Falk (talk) 12:52, 28 May 2025 (UTC)

@Aquillion, @Lova Falk, I think that brain fog is the common term ...for Postoperative cognitive dysfunction. And Chemo brain. And Mild cognitive impairment in dementia. And the cognitive effects of being sleep deprived. And probably other things. Most of those don't have any connection to "the main pathogenetic feature of delirium", however.

So I wonder: What's the intended scope of this article? Is it about a feature of delirium, or is it about a transient or induced Cognitive impairment, or what? Do we need a WP:SETINDEX of 'all the cognitive conditions that have been called brain fog'? WhatamIdoing (talk) 17:24, 28 May 2025 (UTC)

WhatamIdoing You raise a valid point. I don't have an answer though. Lova Falk (talk) 17:41, 29 May 2025 (UTC)

yep fair point that brain fog may be used in many differing contexts.

One option might be rename this article "fibro fog" (see https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/fibromyalgia/symptoms/) - or to let this article fade away, and perhaps start a new article called "fibro fog." Asto77 (talk) 20:25, 31 May 2025 (UTC)

"Brain fog" could become a Wikipedia:Disambiguation page. WhatamIdoing (talk) 00:37, 1 June 2025 (UTC)

Hi @WhatamIdoing, @Aquillion, @Lova Falk, and @Asto77. Reviewing the broad expansion of the article I've undertaken recently, I'm curious to hear what your all's thoughts are now. I've still got a lot more to go, but I'd argue that they fall under the same general discussion, but are connotatively distinct within it. Brain fog appears to be far more colloquial, and centers around the public discourse related to its presentation, particularly since the early days of COVID, when the term became common reference. Clouding of consciousness, on the other hand, is the specialist term for a specific cognitive dysregulation reminiscent of brain fog, but particularly focused on a lack of full conscious awareness on account of dysfunction of the Thalamus and Hypothalamus. Brain fog, in contrast, seems to be caused by dysfunction just about anywhere, but particularly as a result of either receptor abnormalities or damage to the prefrontal cortex. I'd appreciate some help in determining where to take discussion from here. I seem to have been able to find a good middle ground thus far, but I suspect it will get more complicated as time goes on, as a lot of the resources I've referred to talk about cognitive issues that might not necessarily match the distinct presentation of 'clouding of consciousness', but would be described colloquially by patients as 'brain fog'.

My thanks in advance,

CSGinger14 (talk) 00:13, 28 November 2025 (UTC)

You can see my suggestions for potential split titles, as I'm certain, looking at how much information I've been able to write about certain topics, and the vast amount of sourcing that still exists for them thereafter, that this article will need to be. The trouble is that laymen are either going to look to the article specific to their condition, or look to an article on 'brain fog', because it's the most widely referenced colloquial term. I'd argue that such an article should thus provide a broad overview of cognitive challenges that would typically be described (by laymen) as Brain Fog. I don't think it does readers much good to have 20 separate articles discussing specific, medicalistic, and esoteric cognitive dysfunction when, more likely than not, their goal is to understand what qualifies as 'brain fog', or, alternatively, to understand what might be causing their brain fog. I'd appreciate help with the article as well if it could be provided. I've got at least 50 sources and another hundred I could find on various subtopics that would arguably qualify as brain fog, so I'd like to know how best to go about reporting on them.

My thanks,

CSGinger14 (talk) 00:21, 28 November 2025 (UTC)

I'm a dyed-in-the-wool mergeist, so please take my suggestion to keep it all together with a grain of salt. I see two viable paths:

1. Everything on one page, which probably needs to be renamed to Brain fog or similar, and which will need a substantial ==Classification== section to explain the differences.
2. Brain fog becomes a Wikipedia:Disambiguation page, Clouding of consciousness is strictly limited to thalamic/hypothalamic dysfunction, and one or more other pages are created for other mechanisms (or sections, perhaps similar to Fatigue#Medications).

Also, while I'm here, I appreciate your efforts to improve this page. WhatamIdoing (talk) 03:03, 2 December 2025 (UTC)

Do Sébastien et al. (2007) actually say (in these words or similar) what this article says: "Clouding of consciousness may be synonymous with subsyndromal delirium" or is that a Wikipedian's theory on their similarity? If the latter I humbly suggest that sentence should be cut. Dvdtoy (talk) 22:51, 2 August 2025 (UTC)

Did you manage to find any info on this?

CSGinger14 (talk) 23:19, 14 February 2026 (UTC)

Hi all. I've just made extensive additions to the section on COVID-19. After reviewing guidelines I realized that in fact this would meet criteria for C-class. Apologies for having made the change without initial review, I was fairly confident that the c-class criteria was more extensive than it appears. Unfortunately, brain fog has itself been an issue for me as of late (particularly memory, any doctors here?). Given the extensive body of scholarship that now exists on the topic in a number of fields (Particularly in relation to mental illness / neurodivergency, fatigue, depression, acute drug/nicotine withdrawal, hypothyroidism, sleep deprivation, stress, etc.) I think it's important that the page be reviewed by outsiders and improved on a number of fronts. There's simply far too much that's lacking for a topic that's quite important to present day discussions on cognitive impairment and mental health challenges. Any assistance would be appreciated.

All the best, CSGinger14 (talk) 07:49, 25 September 2025 (UTC)

Nobody much minds about quality ratings, as long as they're reasonably close. Don't worry about it. WhatamIdoing (talk) 02:58, 2 December 2025 (UTC)

"Is defined" by whom? By the authors cited? If so (if not a consensus definition) it's just A definition not THE definition. Does DSM contain a definition?

"It is defined as "a phenomenon of fluctuating states of perceived cognitive dysfunction that could have implications in the functional application of cognitive skills in people's participation in daily activities".[4] Dvdtoy (talk) 22:33, 13 February 2026 (UTC)

OK i checked. The authors wrote that they worked out a definition "in consultation with stakeholders " so it's basically their definition, not a DSM or official definition. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10334862/ Dvdtoy (talk) 22:41, 13 February 2026 (UTC)

@Dvdtoy Good catch! Any additional help you'd be able to provide on the page would be greatly appreciated! Honestly I hadn't even had a chance to go verify the information that had been there originally. A lot of it was based on inaccessible sourcing and I sort of just took the previous editors word for it (bad practice, btw). Hope you've enjoyed your Valentine's Day!

Best,

CSGinger14 (talk) 23:18, 14 February 2026 (UTC)

What's the subject of sentence below? Brain fog? Delirium? Subsyndromal delirium? I propose to remove it until that's verified.

"In clinical practice, no standard test is exclusive and specific; therefore, diagnosis depends on the physician's subjective impression." Dvdtoy (talk) 20:53, 15 February 2026 (UTC)

This article is currently the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment, between 12 January 2026 and 4 May 2026. Further details are available on the course page. Student editor(s): Harrycain4 (article contribs).

— Assignment last updated by Maizy9879 (talk) 02:07, 20 February 2026 (UTC)