RELATION OF CHANGES IN CARBOHYDRATE METABOLISM TO PSYCHOTIC STATES

PREVIOUS investigations¹have shown a tendency to a disorder in carbohydrate metabolism associated with the psychoses, chiefly in the nature of reduced sugar tolerance. The cause of this dysfunction has been obscure and has been attributed to various factors, including poor absorption from the gastrointestinal tract, marginal malnutrition²and delay in insulin reaction.^1aOur studies at the Worcester State Hospital have suggested that the reduced glucose tolerance is related in some way to the emotional tension. In confirmation of this hypothesis, we were able to produce a reduction in the glucose tolerance by means of a psycholologic stress situation.^1b

In an attempt to clarify the relation of the glucose tolerance to the psychiatric status, we undertook a study of the sugar tolerance in relation to changes in the patient induced primarily by electric shock therapy. Previous reports by Diethelm³with regard to spontaneous variations in