Preliminary Observations on Mental Disturbances Occurring in Patients under Therapy with Cortisone and ACTH

Abstract

IT HAS become increasingly apparent, during the past year, that mental disturbances are a not uncommon complication of therapy with cortisone and ACTH. It was initially observed that mild euphoria was frequent in patients undergoing this form of treatment, and more recently a variety of other mental abnormalities have been reported.^{1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16} It is intended to describe in this paper a series of patients who developed varying degrees of mental disturbance while under treatment with these agents and to review briefly the possible etiologic factors and theoretical implications involved.The 10 cases histories to be presented are divided for descriptive purposes . . .