Socio-Psychiatric Consequences of Huntington's Disease

Abstract

The socio-psychiatric aspects of 102 patients with Huntington's disease were studied largely by following pedigrees in depth. We found a high incidence of psychiatric, sexual and social features of the illness which antedate the florid picture seen in mental hospitals and neurological departments. Our findings on the early stages of the illness carry diagnostic, preventive and eugenic implications, as well as a more urgent need to consider the fate of younger members of these families, whether or not they carry the Huntington's gene.