Mental diseases: a public health problemMay, James Vance
Science
Mental diseases: a public health problem
May, James Vance
Mental health services; Psychology, Pathological
Perspiration,
dizzy spells, confusion and stupor may be caused by circulatory
disturbances. Sexual power is diminished, and menstrual disturbances
are frequent. These symptoms may appear early or may not develop for
years, depending on the individual case. Kraepelin also describes
forms similar to dipsomania in alcoholics. He attributes these to
epileptic or hysterical constitutions. Many of his cases were decidedly
psychopathic with tendencies to abuse the use of alcohol, tobacco and
coffee. Of thirty-eight patients observed by him, nineteen used only
one drug, ten of them were addicted to two, eight others to three, and
one patient to as many as five. Under abstinence symptoms he includes
exhaustion, restlessness, yawning, sneezing, anxiety, chilliness,
oppression, sense deceptions and pains in various parts of the body.
The patient is sleepless and sometimes goes into an excitement with
suicidal inclinations. In some cases a condition develops which
markedly resembles delirium tremens. In others, hallucinatory symptoms
are more marked. These manifestations may last for several days or for
a few weeks. Hysterical dream states with hallucinations and convulsive
seizures may also occur.
Cocaine was first isolated by Gardeka in 1855, but was given the name
it now bears by Niemann. It did not come into extensive use until many
years later and was not employed generally in ophthalmological practice
until about 1884. Freud in 1885 called attention to the fact that small
doses of cocaine produced a stimulation of the mental activities with
euphoria and an increased capacity for both mental and physical work.
Mannheim,[230] who reviewed ninety-nine cases of cocaine poisoning in
1891, found that the first symptoms were drowsiness and deep sleep,
occasionally followed by coma and collapse. He observed that some
patients became restless and excited, dizzy, laughing and crying
alternately, while others were very talkative and uneasy, walking up
and down with a drunken gait. Usually he found a complete amnesia
afterwards.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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