Causes
Although the cause of klazomania is unknown, it is considered to be associated with encephalitis lethargica; a 2006 journal review by Jankovic and Mejia attributes klazomania to tourettism (tics not due to Tourette syndrome), widely seen after the encephalitic lethargica pandemic of 1916 to 1927.
Wohlfart (1961) hypothesized that klazomania is caused by an irritating lesion in the mesencephalon and a malfunction in the control of the motor circuit from the substantia nigra in the mesencephalon to the globus pallidus in the striatum (mesostraital pathway). This circuit becomes overstimulated during a mesencephalic "fit".
In a 1996 report of one case, Bates et al. postulated that klazomania is similar to the vocal tics of Tourette syndrome, although patients with klazomania may not have the motor tics necessary for a diagnosis of TS. Bates and colleagues observed a case where alcoholism and encephalitis were accompanied by vocal tics and occasionally klazomania. They hypothesized that the cause of klazomania is linked to the combined effects of brain damage due to alcoholism or encephalitis.
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