Benign Stupors: A Study of a New Manic-Depressive Reaction TypeHoch, August
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Benign Stupors: A Study of a New Manic-Depressive Reaction Type
Hoch, August
Manic-depressive illness; Stupor
When we consider certain bodily manifestations of these typical stupors,
however, fresh difficulties are encountered. Unlike depressions,
elations and anxieties, certain physical symptoms appear with frequency,
even regularity. This would seem to indicate the presence of physical
disease. Inasmuch as the most constant of them is fever, the natural
conclusion would be that we are dealing with an infection which
produces a mental state called stupor. If we were not faced with an
obvious relationship to manic-depressive insanity, where such symptoms
are usually accidental and intercurrent, we would accept this
explanation, but this quandary necessitates further analysis.
Let us first consider the fever. In 35 cases, on whom data of
temperature could be found from the records extant, 28 showed fever
usually running between 99° and 100°, often up to 101° or slightly over
this point. When these cases were analyzed, however, it was found that
27 were typical and 8 atypical, showing pictures resembling those
described in the last chapter. Of the latter only one had a rise of
temperature, while of the typical group only one was afebrile.
Therefore, since out of 27 typical cases 26 had the typical slight
fever, we must conclude it to be a highly specific symptom. Of these 28
cases the incidence of the fever was as follows: 8 showed it only on
admission; in 7 it was highest on admission but continued at a low rate
throughout the rest of the psychosis; in 5 it extended without much
variation throughout the psychosis; in 4 it appeared intermittently,
while in 2 it was accentuated during periods when the mental symptoms
were most pronounced. We see, then, that there is a distinct tendency
for the fever to be associated with the onset of the disease.
When we look for other data from which we might discover causes for the
fever, we find less than we would like. The records are of observations
made, some of them, twenty years ago. Although the mental examinations
were careful, the records of the physical symptoms either were not made
or were lost in many cases. Consequently our description must be
tentative and is published merely to stimulate further research as cases
come to the attention of psychiatrists.
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