IS PERIODICAL PSYCHOSIS IN ADOLESCENCE A DISEASE ON ITS OWN - A CONTRIBUTION TO DIFFERENTIATED DIAGNOSIS OF PSYCHOMOTOR PSYCHOSES IN CHILDHOOD AND ADOLESCENCE

A historically orientated analysis of a disease that must be seen in c onnection with menstruation is made on the basis of literature on peri odical psychoses in adolescence, which are described as nosologically separate disturbances. This relation turns out to be by no means oblig atory, and this also applies to the homogeneity of the disease. Psycho motor disturbances of psychopathological importance are described by m eans of ideally typical cases of disease and presented with a differen tiated diagnosis. Psychoses occurring during different periods in chil dhood and adolescence, do not show any sex-specific differences and no absolute dependence in accordance with the menstruation rhythm, but a re mostly connected with a hereditary and also a perinatal strain in c hildhood. In their acute and long-term progress the psychomotoric dist urbances allow a differentiated prognosis and therefore a therapeutic explanation. They can be classified in accordance with the Wernicke-Kl eist-Leonhard classification schema as motility psychosis and periodic catatonia. With this in mind, the positive-negative dichotomy of schi zophrenic disturbances in childhood and adolescence should be carefull y reconsidered.