Amenza

AMENZA. - A state of mental confusion with hallucinations of various kinds and motor restlessness; capable of complete recovery, it manifests in acute form, predominantly in young individuals, in connection with intoxication of the brain in the course of toxic or infectious diseases, endocrine alterations, metabolic alterations, alterations of the excretory organs, or episodically in the course of other mental illnesses. Particularly in the latter case, or when the picture is clearly secondary to clearly identifiable morbid causes, various authors prefer to speak of "amential syndrome."

Stress should be laid on the gap between the aforementioned medical meaning of a. and the Latin meaning of "amentia" = feeblemindedness, madness (A. Forcellini, Lexicon totius latinitatis, s. v.). In this general sense of "mental alienation" the attribute "amentes" used in canon law (CIC, can. 2201) is to be understood, "amentes" meaning precisely those who are affected by "insania circa omnia obiecta atque negotia" (cf. S. R. Rota, Decisiones seu sententiae, XXVII, Rome 1935, dec. XXII, n. 6, p. 282).