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Hoch, August; MacCurdy, John T. (Editor) : Benign Stupors: A Study of a New Manic-Depressive Reaction Type

The Macmillan Company, New York, 1921

Original publisher's brown cloth binding with gilt lettering on spine. 5 1/4" x 7 1/2." 284 pages, complete. Index in back. Pages are very clean and intact except for light age toning throughout, occasional pencil annotations, and occasional tiny stains limited to top margin. Covers are clean and intact overall but there is significant edge wear at the fore-edge in the lower-right edge of front cover and lower-left edge of back cover (about 1/4" of the cloth on former and 1 1/2" of the cloth on the latter has been shorn off) and light rubbing on front, back, and spine. A Very Good copy. A unique monograph shedding some light on the fields of psychology and psychiatry during the early twentieth century. The subjects of this book, as suggested by the title, are "stupors," which are defined by August Hoch and his colleagues as catatonic states. Patients who appear to be in a "stupor" may exhibit apathy, lack of movement, apparent cognitive impairment, memory lapses, mutism, seizures, or hallucinations, among other symptoms. Much of this book comprises individual case studies of patients (whose first names and first initials of their last names are given) showing varying degrees of catatonic states. Most of the patients observed for this study were girls and women between the ages of 15 and 25. The case studies, in a clinical manner, describe symptoms, behaviors, appearances, and verbal responses from patients, especially in respect to the mental illnesses or mental disorders they may have. Also central to this study is the connection between "stupors" (catatonia) and "dementia praecox" (now known as schizophrenia) and "manic-depressive insanity" (manic-depressive disorders). Chapters are listed as follows: "Introduction and Typical Cases of Deep Stupor," "The Partial Stupor Reactions," "Suicidal Cases," "The Interferences with the Intellectual Processes," "The Ideational Content of the Stupor," "Affect," "Inactivity, Negativism and Catalepsy," "Special Cases: Relationship of Stupor to Other Reactions," "The Physical Manifestations of Stupor," "Psychological Explanation of the Stupor," "Psychological Explanation of the Stupor Reaction," "Malignant Stupors," "Diagnosis of Stupor," "Treatment of Stupor," "Summary of the Stupor Reaction," and "The Literature of Stupor." August Hoch (1868-1919) was a Swiss-American psychiatrist and neuropathologist. Hoch played a pivotal role in the development of twentieth-century psychiatry. Notably, Hoch was among the first to introduce Eugen Bleuler's concept of schizophrenia to American psychiatric associations during a time when the mental illness was not widely recognized. John T. MacCurdy (1886-1947) was a Canadian psychiatrist and colleague of Hoch. MacCurdy was a co-founder and the first secretary of the American Psychoanalytic Association. Most of Benign Stupors was written by Hoch, but upon his ailing health, Hoch asked MacCurdy to finish the book for him. In his Editor's Preface, McCurdy also credits fellow psychiatrists Adolf Meyer and George H. Kirby, also psychiatrists for assisting him in completing Hoch's book.. Book. Book Condition: Very Good. Binding: Hardcover

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