Mental diseases: a public health problemMay, James Vance
Science
Mental diseases: a public health problem
May, James Vance
Mental health services; Psychology, Pathological
_Symptoms of So-called Gonadal Hyperactivity_
Precocious sexual activity.
Jolly, gay disposition.
Marked fecundity.
Menorrhagia or metrorhagia.
_Symptoms of So-called Hyposecretion_
Infantilism.
Small, atrophic testes.
Late menstruation.
Menorrhagia.
Dysmenorrhea.
Infantile uterus.
Nervous constipation.
Deficient lateral incisors.
Sterility.
Absent lateral incisors.
_Pineal Stigmata_
(occur only in children)
Precocious sexual and mental development.
It will be noted that he associates manic symptoms, increased
emotional irritability, ideas of reference and persecution with
thyroid hyperactivity and speaks of a sluggish mentality in pituitary
deficiency and gonadal stigmata. Blumgarten's summary of these
conditions is very interesting: "The study of the various stigmata
shows that many of these are present regularly in certain types of
individuals. Consequently we may group individuals from an endocrine
viewpoint into various types according to the prominent endocrine
stigmata which they show. For example, the nervous, thin individual
with tachycardia, rather prominent eyeballs, fine, delicate hair,
suffering occasionally from gastric symptoms, suggests the thyroid
type, as does also the clean-cut, alert individual, and the young woman
suffering with amenorrhea and a tendency to obesity and lethargic
mentality. On the other hand, the aggressive, energetic individual,
with the history of an ancestry subject to vascular disease, with
high blood pressure, with abundant, unusual distribution of hair and
a tendency to pigmentation, suggests the adrenal type. And so does
the tired, asthenic individual with low blood pressure and Sergent's
white line, who may have had influenza or diphtheria and even may be
suffering from tuberculosis. On the other hand, however, the heavily
built individual with broad, large frame, wide intercostal angle, broad
nose, prominent supra-orbital ridges, prominent lips, large, square
fingers, suggests the pituitary type. These individuals are very fond
of meats, are heavy eaters, and are constantly subject to diseases of a
gouty nature, may have a history of syphilis, are often musical and, as
a rule, are usually successful in their particular community."
According to Kaplan[108] "such states as lack of courage, melancholy,
suicidal tendencies, dementia praecox, precocious adolescence, and
immature senility, sadism and masochism; all of these are possible
manifestations in a gonadotrop individual." Garretson[109] is of the
opinion that the "large group of patients generally misunderstood and
frequently classed in civil life as neurasthenics, psychasthenics,
hysterics, cyclothymics, and hypochondriacs, is now capable of an
intelligent analysis and rational therapy, if one will concede that
these are the victims of an endocrinic asthenia."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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