Responsibility in mental disease / by Henry Maudsley.

  • Henry Maudsley
Date:
1892
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Responsibility in mental disease / by Henry Maudsley. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    EPILEPTIC MANIA. 3. Another form of epileptic mania is of a furious cha- racter throughout its course, and may be compared in the mental sphere with the so-called grand mal or genuine epileptic convulsions. It differs from other forms of mania in its sudden invasion ; either there are no premonitory symptoms, or they occur only a few hours before the attack. They are headache, redness and brilliancy of the eyes, alteration of voice, slight convul- sive movements of face or limbs, or sadness, irritability, and slight excitement. A second character, which is common to other forms of recurrent mania, is the close resemblance of one attack to another in its prodromata, symptoms, course, and termination; the same ideas, the same words, the same acts, are observed on each occasion; the attacks are almost as much alike as one epileptic fit is like another. Another character is the extreme vio- lence of the mania, which makes those who suffer from it the terror and danger of an asylum. There are frequent hallucinations of the senses: threatening voices in the ears, overpowering odours in the nostrils, flames of fire or the redness of blood before the eyes. Terrify- ing ideas have possession of their minds; they see in those around them assassins who threaten their lives; and their fury is uncontrollable. Nevertheless, it is remarkable, considering their extreme fury, that their words are much less incoherent usually than those of other insane persons who are equally excited; they comprehend and reply to questions more directly, and are more conscious of their surroundings; and yet, in singular contrast with this feature, they exhibit an almost E