Anomalous reaction-times in a case of manic-depressive depression / by Shepherd Ivory Franz.
- Shepherd Ivory Franz
- Date:
- 1904
Licence: In copyright
Credit: Anomalous reaction-times in a case of manic-depressive depression / by Shepherd Ivory Franz. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.
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![[Reprinted from The Psychological Bulletin, Vol. II., No. 7, July 15, 1905.] ANOMALOUS REACTION-TIMES IN A CASE OF MANIC-DEPRESSIVE DEPRESSION.' BY SHEPHERD IVORY FRANZ, McLean Hospital, Waverley, Mass. In the course of a series of experiments upon the condition of the nervous system in manic-depressive insanity, it was found that the reaction times of a depressed and retarded patient not only were much longer than the normal, but that on certain days there was a tendency for the simple reactions to be greatly prolonged, without a correspond- ing lengthening of the choice reaction time. Sometimes the time of the simple reactions was found to be equal to, sometimes to be longer than the choice reaction time. These results, so peculiar and at the same time so interesting, warrant a special report apart from the other results which do not show such anomalous results. The subject of the experiments is a man, sixty-six years old, suc- cessful in business and of good education. He was admitted to the hospital greatly depressed and retarded in October, 1903, and the ex- periments to be reported were made September to December, 1904. Previous to his present illness the patient had had six similar attacks, from each of which he had recovered in a few months. The current attack (the seventh) is the longest, and at the present writing recovery has not yet taken place (June, 1905). In the depressed phase of manic-depressive insanity there is a lower- ing of feeling tone and a decrease, often a slowing of voluntary bodily and mental activity, z. e., a psycho-motor retardation. In this condi- tion, in addition to the usual feeling of malaise and to the self-ac- cusation, there is noted a feeling of inadequacy,— a feeling of in- ability to do what had formerly been easily performed, and, particu- larly, a feeling of inability to start ordinary acts. A patient may make ^This number has been prepared under the editorial care of Dr. Adolf Meyer.](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b22408496_0005.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
