Description of the Stupor Reaction

Most stupors have generally been looked on as catatonic in nature and therefore as a form of dementia praecox. Psychiatrists were often puzzled by the fact that some cases recovered, a problem that was first studied seriously by Kirby ¹ in 1913. He pointed out that many stupors, showing symptoms considered to be definitely catatonic, not only recovered, but that stupor psychoses could replace depressions in circular insanity, behaving exactly like the ordinary clinical states universally recognized as phases of manic-depressive insanity. Research with stupors continued at the Psychiatric Institute, the fruits of this labour appearing finally as a posthumous volume on the stupor reaction ² . Since these psychoses are little understood, and have never before been accurately delineated, it may be well to describe them here, following Hoch’s text, often in literal quotation, in order that the reader may be oriented as to the nature of the material discussed. Some case summaries from Hoch’s book will also be included as illustrations.