Psychopathology

Abstract

MYERSON has established for himself the following guiding principles: first, that wherever a psychosis is mainly of constitutional origin, and where medical science is yet unable to find any direct environmental relationship, he is reluctant to state that any environmental event is a probable exciting or precipitating or aggravating cause. If, however, an environmental event occurs which is of serious nature, such as severe trauma, or of great emotional significance, and if it can be shown that the psychosis occurred within a very short period, he is willing to admit some relationship. This is true, however,. mainly of manic-depressive psychosis. He is willing to admit a psychological event as a probable cause for the occurrence of this psychosis. Manicdepressive is mainly an affective psychosis. It is therefore logical to assume that a serious emotional situation may, if immediately followed by a manicdepressive state, be a precipitating or aggravating cause. He is unwilling to admit that there is any reason to assume that this is a factor in the precipitation of dementia prtecox, largely because the schizophrenic state is not, as. far as we know, emotional in origin, and because the personality alteration is of more profound nature than the change which takes place in manicdepressive psychosis. C. S. R.