What is an irreversible condition characterized by severe memory deficits?

Korsakoff psychosis is an irreversible condition often associated with chronic alcohol abuse and thiamine (vitamin B1) deficiency. It is characterized by significant memory disturbances, including anterograde amnesia (difficulty forming new memories) and retrograde amnesia (loss of previously formed memories). Individuals with Korsakoff psychosis may exhibit confabulation, where they create false memories or stories to fill in gaps in their memory.

The neurobiological basis of this condition involves damage to specific brain areas, including the mammillary bodies and the thalamus, due to prolonged thiamine deficiency. This leads to the distinctive memory deficits that are hallmarked in anorexia. In contrast, Wernicke's encephalopathy, which results from acute thiamine deficiency, tends to cause confusion, ophthalmoplegia, and ataxia but is somewhat reversible if treated early with thiamine supplementation.

Conditions like rheumatoid arthritis and systemic lupus erythematosus are autoimmune diseases primarily affecting the joints and connective tissues, respectively, and do not typically lead to memory deficits as seen in Korsakoff psychosis. Thus, among the provided choices, the characteristic severe memory deficits and the irreversible nature of the condition are most accurately represented by