Shell-shock and other neuropsychiatric problems : $b Presented in five hundred and eighty-nine case histories from the war literature, 1914-1918Southard, Elmer Ernest
History
Shell-shock and other neuropsychiatric problems : $b Presented in five hundred and eighty-nine case histories from the war literature, 1914-1918
Southard, Elmer Ernest
War neuroses; World War, 1914-1918 -- Medical care; World War, 1914-1918 -- Psychological aspects
A soldier was blown up by a mine and rendered unconscious. Upon
recovery of consciousness, he was dumb, unable to work, very nervous,
paralyzed as to left arm and leg. The paralysis improved so that in
the hospital at home the patient became able to get about. However, he
threw his legs about in an unusual fashion. Several months later, the
patient was much improved.
Shortly, however, there was a relapse. Transferred to a hospital for
chronic cases, the patient was unable to walk without assistance on
account of complete paralysis of the leg. Insomnia, general tremor, and
a bad stuttering developed, with a habit of starting in terror at the
slightest noise.
Hypnotic treatment was followed by almost complete disappearance
of the tremor. The patient began to sleep six or seven hours a
night; nervousness diminished, and the stuttering slowly improved;
but neither the paralysis nor the anesthesia of the left leg was
affected by suggestion. The leg remained cold, livid, anesthetic, and
flaccidly paralyzed to the hip. Though a slight improvement has since
been produced by faradization, the patient still can walk only with
assistance.
A man was injured in 1906 by the fall of a heavy weight on his back. In
1914 he went to France as a soldier, and eight months later was hurled
into a shell hole so that his back struck the edge. He was rendered
unconscious. Upon recovery of consciousness, the right leg was found to
be swollen, and there were severe pains in the legs and back.
Since return home the patient had gone from one hospital to another,
for the most part unable to walk, suffering from agonizing pain in the
head and eyes, unable to sleep, and in the night subject to horrible
waking dreams.
CHART 6
MINOR SIGNS OF ORGANIC HEMIPLEGIA (LHERMITTE)
I. Hyperextension of forearm (hypotonia).
II. Platysma sign: Contraction absent on paralyzed side.
III. Babinski’s flexion of thigh on pelvis (spontaneous, upon
suddenly throwing seated subject into dorsal decubitus).
IV. Hoover’s sign: Complementary opposition (on request to
raise paralyzed arm, presses _opposite_ arm strongly
against mattress).
V. Heilbronner’s sign of the broad thigh (hypotonia).
VI. Rossolimo’s sign: flexion of toes on slight percussion of
sole.
VII. Mendel-Bechterew sign: flexion of small toes on percussion
with hammer of dorsal surface of cuboid bone.
VIII. Oppenheim’s sign (extension of great toe on deep friction
of calf muscles); or Schaefer, or Gordon (on pinching tendo
Achillis).
IX. Marie-Foix sign: withdrawal of lower leg on transverse
pressure of tarsus or forced flexion of toes, even when leg
is incapable of voluntary movement.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account