Definition of "decompensate" verb third-person singular simple present decompensates , present participle decompensating , simple past and past participle decompensated
(medicine, psychology, of a bodily organ or mental state) To deteriorate in function due to an inability to invoke normal defensive mechanisms that compensate for ailments and other stresses . quotations
Quotations In some cases , the fragile individual , overwhelmed by the implicit demands and expectations for sociability , coherence , and "constructive " behavior , rapidly decompensates taking flight into psychosis or protective withdrawal .
1983, Nancy Scheper-Hughes, “A Proposal for the Aftercare of Chronic Psychiatric Patients”, in Medical Anthropology Quarterly, volume 14, number 2, pages 11–12