Benign Stupors: A Study of a New Manic-Depressive Reaction TypeHoch, August
Science
Benign Stupors: A Study of a New Manic-Depressive Reaction Type
Hoch, August
Manic-depressive illness; Stupor
For the study of the interferences with the intellectual processes
during stupor reaction, we have two sources of information: The first is
derived from the account which the patient is able to give in regard to
what he remembers as having taken place around him or in his mind during
the stupor period; the second is the direct observation of partial
stupor reactions.
1. Information Derived from the Patient’s Retrospective Account
We will start with the cases of marked stupor mentioned in Chapter I.
Anna G.’s (Case 1) psychosis commenced at home, and under observation
lasted with great intensity for five months. She remembered only vaguely
the carriage going to the Observation Pavilion, had no recollection of
the latter, nor of her transfer to the Manhattan State Hospital and of
most of the stay at the Institute ward, including the tube- or
spoon-feeding which had to be carried on for four months. She also
claimed that she did not know where she was until four or five months
after admission. She was amnesic for her delusions and hallucinations.
Of Caroline DeS. (Case 2) we have no information. Of Mary F. (Case 3),
whose stupor began at home and under observation lasted two years, we
find that she had no recollection of coming to the hospital, what ward
she came to, who the doctor and nurses were (with whom she became
acquainted later), in fact she claimed that for about a year she did
not know where she was. But she remembered having been tube-fed (this
took place over a long period). Mary D.’s (Case 4) stupor also commenced
at home, and under observation lasted for three months. She had no
recollection of going to the Observation Pavilion, of the transfer to
Manhattan State Hospital, and of a considerable part of her stay here,
including such obtrusive facts as a presentation before a staff meeting,
an extensive physical and a blood examination, and she claimed not to
have known for a long time where she was. Annie K.’s (Case 5) stupor
commenced at home. Although she recalled the last days there and some
ideas and events at the Observation Pavilion, the memory of the journey
to Ward’s Island was vague, as was that of entrance to the ward, and she
claimed not to have known where she was for quite a while. Specific
occurrences, such as the taking of her picture (with open eyes two
months after admission), an examination in a special room, her own
mixed-up writing (end of second week) were not remembered. But it is
quite interesting that an angry outburst of another patient within this
same period, which was evidently not recorded, is clearly remembered.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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