No access

Article

Published Online: March 1942

CLINICAL AND ELECTROENCEPHALOGRAPHIC STUDIES IN PYKNOLEPSY

JOSEPH W. OWEN and LOUIS BERLINROODAuthors Info & Affiliations

Publication: American Journal of Psychiatry

Volume 98, Number 5

https://doi.org/10.1176/ajp.98.5.757

Get Access

Abstract

Eight cases of typical pyknolepsy are presented. Four of these ceased spontaneously during the period of observation.

Clinically they were similar to petit mal epilepsy except for the mildness of their symptoms, the fairly monotonous course, their lack of deterioration and the tendency to spontaneous cure.

Electroencephalographic studies were made on three of these cases after they had ceased, four during their still active phase, and one before and after cessation of the attacks. Normal brain potentials were found in the spontaneously recovered cases whereas in the active ones typical petit mal electrical patterns were observed.

From the study of these eight cases it appears that pyknolepsy is a form of petit mal epilepsy because of:

1. The similarity in the clinical picture;

2. The electroencephalographic pattern in the active phase showing a wave and spike formation found in petit mal epilepsy;

3. The lack of evidence of definite psychogenic factors;

4. The high incidence of epilepsy in families of patients with pyknolepsy as revealed by a study of the literature.

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 98 • Number 5 • March 1942

Pages: 757 - 766

History

Published in print: March 1942

Published online: 1 April 2006

Authors

Affiliations

JOSEPH W. OWEN

View all articles by this author

LOUIS BERLINROOD

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.).

CLINICAL AND ELECTROENCEPHALOGRAPHIC STUDIES IN PYKNOLEPSY

Abstract

Get full access to this article