Notes on some forms of mental disease / by T. Duncan Greenlees.

  • Greenlees, T. Duncan.
Date:
[1907]
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Notes on some forms of mental disease / by T. Duncan Greenlees. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    5/28 (page 3)
    but in most of these cases there is usually some defec¬ tive will-power, and the individual usually has re¬ actionary periods when there is some mental depres¬ sion. As regards degrees of intensity we may have acute, sub-acute, or chronic mania; as regards aetiology we may have puerperal mania, or dipsomania; as regards recurrence we have recurrent mania; and as regards the age at which the disease may appear we have adolescent, climacteric, and senile manias. The first case I show is that of a boy, A. B., aged 18, who is now convalescent from Adolescent Mania,, accompanied by masturbation—a symptom often the result, rather than the cause, of the mental state. His illness began by depression, and avoidance of his sisters; then he became restless, excited, boastful, violent, and assaulted his mother and father. On admission he was flighty, boastful, off-handed and casual, untidy in dress, had an exalted “devil- may-care” manner, and kept calling out for cigarettes and women. In such a case the risks are to dementia, and all the more if there is some original mental instability, such as hereditary brain weakness. The writings of the insane are often of extreme interest, and give an insight to the morbid mind that we might not otherwise experience. We have the jerky, shaky writing of the general paralytic, fre¬ quently missing words or letters; we have the flourish of the patient suffering from delusions of grandeur; we have the frequent under-linings of the chronic maniac, and we get, when he does write at all, the incoherent scrawl of the dement. This boy writes his parents very frequently, and his letters reveal a happy, contented mind, pleased with his surroundings, but with a morbid craving for such things as would amuse a child: “My Dear Parents, I received your welcome letter two days ago. When you come to see me (D.V.) please do not forget a (Goodie Box). N.B.—Please don’t forget 4 Flag Cigarettes ’ (i Box about 9/6 for a box), German Sausages, Cakes, and other dainties such as Chocolate, etc. As regards health, I am feeling stronger than ever I did in my life-Hoping to see the 4Dear Old