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
On the day after this letter she was distinctly freer,
talked a little to the nurse and then improved rapidly. A
week after this, January 16, she is described as quite free
in her talk and activity, but when asked about the
psychosis she merely shrugged her shoulders. However, mere
extensive retrospective accounts were taken later.
The retrospective accounts were obtained on January 24 and
March 13. As these two accounts do not seem to be
fundamentally different for the period of the psychosis,
they may here for the sake of brevity be combined.
She remembered clearly going to the Observation Pavilion,
and feeling frightened, as she did not know where she was
going and what they were going to do with her. She knew
when she was in the Observation Pavilion and had a good
recollection of the place, also of the transfer to the
hospital, the ward she came to, who spoke to her, etc. She
did not know what the place was until the doctor told her a
day or two after admission. Unfortunately definite
incidents were inquired into only for the first part
(July). But she remembered those clearly. She also claimed
to remember all visits which were made to her by her
friends, but it was not specifically determined whether
there was a period of less clear recollection or not.
However, she remembered the tube-feeding, which occurred
only during the more marked stupor. Her desire to be
killed, to have her head cut off, she recalled but claimed
not to know why she wanted to be killed. However, she
remembered worrying about being bad, about the fact that
she could not “pay for the beds,” etc.
Her mutism and refusal of food she was unable to account
for. She could not talk, her “tongue would not move.” As
regards ideas during the more stuporous period, she claimed
that (when quite inactive) she heard voices but did not
recall what they said. But she remembered having dreams at
that time “of fire,” “of her dead father and of home.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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