Mental Restlessness Research Articles

An Early Description of ADHD (Inattentive Subtype): Dr Alexander Crichton and ‘Mental Restlessness’ (1798)

Reviews of the literature on attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) typically begin early in the twentieth century with the descriptions provided by paediatrician George Still. Physician Alexander Crichton, however, described all of the essential features of the Inattentive subtype of ADHD more than a century earlier than Still. This article presents a short biography of Crichton, looks at his 1798 publication describing attentional disorders in otherwise healthy individuals, contrasts his medical writing with the moralism of Still, and shows how his thoughts and observations are very much in accord with DSM-IV criteria for the Inattentive subtype of ADHD.

Potential hazards of benzodiazepines for the fetus

Acta Obstetricia et Gynecologica ScandinavicaVolume 71, Issue 8 p. 655-656 Potential hazards of benzodiazepines for the fetus Liv Laegreid, Corresponding Author Liv Laegreid Department of Pediatrics II, University of Gateborg, Gothenburg, Sweden, 1991The National Center for Epilepsy, Post Office Box 900, N-1301 Sandvika, NowaySearch for more papers by this author Liv Laegreid, Corresponding Author Liv Laegreid Department of Pediatrics II, University of Gateborg, Gothenburg, Sweden, 1991The National Center for Epilepsy, Post Office Box 900, N-1301 Sandvika, NowaySearch for more papers by this author First published: December 1992 https://doi.org/10.3109/00016349209006241AboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditWechat No abstract is available for this article. Volume71, Issue8December 1992Pages 655-656 RelatedInformation

Unrecognized Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder in Adults Presenting for Outpatient Psychotherapy

ABSTRACT Adult patients with significant childhood and current symptoms of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), but whose ADHD had not been previously recognized, were evaluated by three clinical consultants working with diverse referral populations. These 60 adults shared common characteristics of physical and mental restlessness, impulsivity, disabling distractibility, low self-esteem, self-loathing, and a gnawing sense of underachievement. Specific learning or behavior problems were often present. These patients were chronically disaffected. The diagnosis of ADHD appeared to be missed because these individuals presented with atypical symptoms or had found ways to compensate for their deficits. Descriptive generalizations are offered concerning their coping strategies. These adults had sought previous psychiatric care for non-ADHD symptoms but had numerous unsuccessful treatment attempts. Most patients had been treated for mood or anxiety disorders. Traditional defense analysis had little beneficial effect and aggravated problems of self-esteem; modifications of the psychotherapeutic process are recommended. In open clinical trials without formal measures, the majority of such patients appeared to respond to low doses of antidepressants (i.e., desipramine 10-30 mg daily) and seemed to lose the therapeutic effect at higher antidepressant doses.

A bureaucratic determinant of scientific precedence or: "scooped by the drug lag".

The lust for precedence in publication is the most important dirty secret of the scientific working class. Certainly, scientists know that hasty publication may be inaccurate, or that the first announcement of a finding may at best pale before the significance of further workings and modifications of that finding. Regardless, the mental restlessness of scientists may be as much due to anguish provoked by searching Current Contents for a feared scooping, as to struggles for the next truth.

Heimkehr ins Eigentliche (review)

504 HISTORY OF PHILOSOPHY Earle's position, needless to say, is a radical one. If taken seriously it appears to commit him either to a private language doctrine or, more likely, to silence. If the concepts embodied in our language are public, intersubjective concepts, then either a minimal characterization of singular human existence is possible or Earle is stranded in a hopeless, speechless solipsism. I shall mention just one other paper, Natanson's "Alienation and Social Role." Natanson distinguishes role-taking from the more basic activity which he refers to as the intentionality of role-taking or, as he terms it, "role-action." He attempts to give a phenomenological grounding to the notion of role-taking, thereby showing the relevance of phenomenology to problems in social philosophy and sociology. Though a difficult paper, "Alienation and Social Role" is a helpful study of various structures presupposed in social interaction. Natanson's analyses go a long way toward dispelling the view that a phenomenological starting point commits one to subjectivism. I might have mentioned other, equally instructive essays. These, however, give some indication of the diversity of concerns inherent in the American phenomenological tradition. Phenomenology in America documents these concerns well. STEPHEN A, ERICKSON Pomona College Heimkehr ins Eigentliche. By Walter Robert Corti. (Amriswil, Switzerland, Amriswiler BiichereL 1969. Pp. 152. n.p.) This collection of essays written between 1935 and 1966 gives a fine example of the changes in the concern for the meaning of human existence during these thirty years both in the mind and emotions of an individual philosopher and in Western culture generally. The essay from which the title is taken dates from 1958. It is a charming, poetic autobiography, describing the growth of philosophic and scientific wonder from the author's childhood, when he was thrilled by the wonders of biology and chemistry, to his more general wonder at being in and of the world of wonders, culminating in a self-conscious wonder about the implications of a wondering being in a wonderful world. The early essay of 1935, entitled Zu den Dingen is a vivid statement of a Heidegger-inspired existentialism, which analyses the difference between the attempt of Husserl to understand Sachen by his search for the essence of an object ;rod his formulation of phenomenology, and the very different appreciation of things in nature, which demands a non-verbal familiarity or "communion" with another natural being in existential terms, not in terms of the concept of "essence." The later essay of 1958 contains a critical history of the relations between the theories of explication, evolution, and development as cosmologies. After the historical survey it describes the physiological and mental restlessness of man. In this context, the problem of the meaning of existence is explored, not as a question to be answered, but as a significant form of human restlessness which has implications for a kind of restlessness in nature and in cosmic process. Beside these essays which are contributions to the history of recent philosophy, there are several other essays related to the varied and remarkable interests and BOOKS RECEIVED 505 achievements of Dr. Corti, partly in his activities as a distinguished Swiss public leader, partly in connection with his work as director of the Archly fiir genetische Philosophie in Winterthur. HERBERT W. SCHNEIDER Claremont, California BOOKS RECEIVED First Editions Adler, Mortimer. The Time of Our Lives: The Ethics of Common Sense. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, I970. Pp. xiii+361. $7.95. Allen, Gay Wilson. William lames. Pamphlets on American Writers, Number 88. Minneapolis : University of Minnesota, 1970. Pp. 48. $.95. Bahm, Archie. Directory o[ American Philosophers. V 1970-71. Alburquerque: Archie I. Bahm, I970. Pp. 436. $I4.95. Brown, Peter. Augustine of Hippo: A Biography. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1969. Pp. 463. Paper. $2.95. A review of this book appeared in the Journal, ~ 4, Vol. 6. Cailliet, Emile. Journey Into Light. Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 1968. Pp. 117. $3.95. Cantore, Enrico. Atomic Order: An Introduction to the Philosophy of Microphysics. (~mbridge (Mass.): The MIT Press, 1969. Pp. xi+334. $12.50. Caponigri, A. Robert. Philosophy from the Renaissance to the Romantic Age. A History of...

Neurosurgery in cerebral palsy.

Stereotaxic subthalamotomy of 55 patients with cerebral palsy gave a good result in 65% of the selected cases. The result was uncertain in 15 and poor in 20%. An independent socio-medical follow-up study confirmed the clinical finding. The more rapid the involuntary movements, the better was the effect of subthalamotomy. Intention tremor was the most suitable symptom for stereotaxic treatment. Rigidospasticity was alleviated in the distal muscles only. Speech and gait were often improved. Good results were obtained in patients with normal intelligence, while feeble-minded patients did not benefit from the operation. Subthalamotomy was followed by transitory side-effects in 20%, of which increased involuntary movements on the ipsilateral side and mental restlessness were the most frequent. The operation had no mortality. Spinal longitudinal myelotomy effectively relieved the spasticity of the lower limbs in the three patients operated upon.

The Mental Symptoms in Cases of Exophthalmic Goitre and Their Treatment

Changes in the mental condition of the patient are frequently to be recognised as one of the earliest symptoms of exophthalmic goitre. These mental changes may be present before the cardiac or ocular symptoms have been established and before the changes in the thyroid have been observed. The most common feature is an intense and indefinable agitation leading to a more or less marked motor and mental restlessness, which causes the patient to look for constant change in her surroundings and work. There is an inability to settle long to any one occupation or recreation. Work begun with a feeling of relief at the change involved soon becomes irksome, is then done only with an effort, and with the cumulative feeling of effort and concentration required soon causes distress and the work is laid aside. Any sudden noise, any unexpected news, any of the ordinary disturbing elements of everyday life may be followed by an attack of palpitation lasting some hours, and yet, in spite of this, there is an imperative desire to keep moving; to go where such incidents may be experienced. Dr. Geo. Murray, in the Bradshaw Lecture of 1905, states that he has not noticed this craving for entertainment. It seems to be entirely a question of degree. If the stimulus is moderate there may be pleasure in its fulfilment; if more marked it may pass into an apprehensive dread with inhibition of this desire.