Essays In Pastoral MedicineWalsh, James J. (James Joseph)
Religion
Essays In Pastoral Medicine
Walsh, James J. (James Joseph)
First aid in illness and injury; Medicine
In chronic alcoholism a paranoid condition may occur, and this often
is incurable. This psychosis may come on suddenly or gradually. In
true paranoia the delusions are systematised, but in this alcoholic
pseudoparanoia the enfeebled intellect can not build up coherently
even a delusion. The alcoholic hallucinations are visual and auditory,
and we find delusions of persecution, especially of a sexual nature.
The patient hears all kinds of insulting remarks made by "voices."
These voices often come from his own belly. His enemies send poisonous
or foul odours into his room at night, and the groundless suspicions
of his wife's infidelity take most outrageous forms of expression. He
will swear {110} he has _seen_ her misdeeds. Often the baseless
suspicions of his wife begin before any other noticeable impairment of
intellect, and are not recognised as delusions. The first step a
priest should take in investigating accusations of conjugal infidelity
is to find out whether the accuser is a tippler or not.
The delusions of persecution lead to attacks on the supposed enemies
which often are homicidal. Occasionally alcoholic insanity takes on a
paretic form, or it may be epileptic. Ten per centum of alcoholics are
epileptic. When the children of alcoholics are epileptic, the
convulsions begin in these children about four years earlier than in
children that are epileptics from other causes. If epilepsy is latent,
alcoholism will start it into action.
Alcoholism sometimes produces a condition of waking trance followed by
amnesia (lack of memory). In such a state the drunkard may transfer
property, carry out complicated professional actions, commit crime,
take long journeys, travel for days, and so act that no one notices
his disordered mental condition. Then suddenly he awakens and he has
no recollection whatever of what has happened during this trance. He
appears to be conscious, but to have no memory of his consciousness.
There is another alcoholic amnesia, found especially in those that
drink much during the morning hours, where there is instantaneous
forgetfulness. If you ask one of these men to shut a door, for
example, he will forget between his chair and the door what he started
to do. This condition is difficult to cure even after the use of
alcohol has been relinquished.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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