No access

Article

Published Online: March 1940

INSULIN THERAPY OF SCHIZOPHRENIA IN THE ELGIN STATE HOSPITAL

GERT HEILBRUNN and RUTH STERNLIEBAuthors Info & Affiliations

Publication: American Journal of Psychiatry

Volume 96, Number 5

https://doi.org/10.1176/ajp.96.5.1203

Get Access

Abstract

Three hundred fifteen schizophrenic patients treated during a period of almost three years showed 72 per cent recoveries and 10 per cent social remissions in cases with a duration of psychosis less than seven months, 35 per cent and 20 per cent respectively in the group ill from 7 to 18 months and 10 per cent for cases over 18 months duration.

A similar percentage was obtained in patients who had not responded to previous metrazol therapy.

There were 15 per cent relapses in the first two groups.

The treatment with insulin and metrazol simultaneously did not benefit patients who had failed to respond previously to either therapy. For this reason and also because of the disproportionately severe toxic changes in the cerebral ganglion cells of similarly treated rabbits this modification was discontinued.

No fatalities or lasting serious complications were encountered.

Epileptiform seizures occurring in 33 per cent of the patients had no therapeutic effect. No spinal fractures were found in a sampling of patients.

The number of relapses was especially high in cases which had had previous spontaneous remissions. The chance of another recovery decreases with each relapse. No definite criteria for a future relapse could be established from the patient's history before, or the symptomatology during the psychosis. The relapses occurred most frequently within six months after discontinuance of treatment.

A group of failures was compared with a group of recovered patients as to symptomatology of the psychosis and evaluation of personality factors. This study failed to furnish any fundamental differences. A practical prognostic help was found in the patient's reaction to intravenous sodium amytal.

Get full access to this article

View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.

Get Access

Information & Authors

Information

Published In

American Journal of Psychiatry

Volume 96 • Number 5 • March 1940

Pages: 1203 - 1211

History

Published in print: March 1940

Published online: 1 April 2006

Authors

Affiliations

GERT HEILBRUNN

The Elgin State Hospital, Elgin, Ill.

View all articles by this author

RUTH STERNLIEB

The Elgin State Hospital, Elgin, Ill.

View all articles by this author

Metrics & Citations

Metrics

Citations

Export Citations

If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.

For more information or tips please see 'Downloading to a citation manager' in the Help menu.

Format	RIS (ProCite, Reference Manager) EndNote BibTex Medlars RefWorks
Direct importt
Citation style
Style

Copy to clipboard
Tips for downloading citations

There are no citations for this item

View Options

Get Access

Login options

Already a subscriber? Access your subscription through your login credentials or your institution for full access to this article.

Personal login Institutional Login Open Athens login

Purchase Options

Purchase this article to access the full text.

PPV Articles - American Journal of Psychiatry

Not a subscriber?

Subscribe Now / Learn More

PsychiatryOnline subscription options offer access to the DSM-5-TR^® library, books, journals, CME, and patient resources. This all-in-one virtual library provides psychiatrists and mental health professionals with key resources for diagnosis, treatment, research, and professional development.

Need more help? PsychiatryOnline Customer Service may be reached by emailing [email protected] or by calling 800-368-5777 (in the U.S.) or 703-907-7322 (outside the U.S.).

INSULIN THERAPY OF SCHIZOPHRENIA IN THE ELGIN STATE HOSPITAL

Abstract

Get full access to this article