An inquiry into a frequent cause of insanity in young men. / by Robert P. Ritchie.

  • Ritchie, Robert Peel, 1835-1902.
Date:
1861
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: An inquiry into a frequent cause of insanity in young men. / by Robert P. Ritchie. 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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    sequently to attendance at these meetings not being stated in the reports of other asylums which I have had oppor- tunity to consult, I am unable to state the proportion and frequency of such cases. From the true cause of the mental condition of these cases not being understood, the meaning of these reproaches for past conduct cannot be comprehended; and it is easily explained why a young man of apparently blameless life making these self-accusations is regarded by his friends as suffering from acute religious feelings, whereas remorse or fear has generally more to do with his condition than true religious impression or conviction. In some patients, actions of peculiar character are the result of the idea that, by so acting, a propitiation is made for the sin committed. The attempt to injure the genitals, to pass blood, and other similar acts, proceed from this; whilst in other instances the object of these actions may be to convince those around and themselves that they still have some powrer left. In these, the various acts of violence or destructiveness are the result of their endeavours to test their powers and to convince those around. In the other mental symptoms there is no great difference from those observed in acute maniacal cases depending upon other causes. There is the excited and restless manner, the incoherence of language, the loss of sleep, and other indi- cations of mania, but qualified by the characters peculiar to the form just described. The tendency of the mental condition is generally towards recovery, but relapses may in a large number of cases be looked for; and so frequently do these at times occur that the case may assume a kind of recurrent form, but the continuance of this is limited by the approach of dementia. During convalescence these patients generally betray their apathetic disposition. They do not care to employ them- selves ; there is a want of concentrative power; and they are easily tired by the ideas being fixed for but even a short time
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