Neuropsychiatric aspects of tics and spasms.
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Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to R W Tibbetts.
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Ten cases of primary anorexia nervosa (weight phobia) in males (as against 196 females) have been treated in the United Birmingham Hospitals over 19 years. A discrete syndromes appears to exist with much to support the view that it is the counterpart of primary anorexia nervosa in the female. Six illustrative case histories are described briefly. The heavy loading with consistent abnormalities of psychiatric interest makes it very probable that weight phobia is primarily a psychiatric disorder.
The history of writer's cramp is reviewed, and the study of ten cases described. Nine of the patients were male with obsessional personalities, and involved in a conflict with some bearing on the act of writing. Treatment by psychotherapy and re-education produced either temporary or little improvement; biofeedback, used in six cases, produced some benefit in four, of which only one relapsed. Although no statistical weight can be attached to the results of so short a series, biofeedback appears to offer a promise of response which merits further investigation. The use of the electromyograph is discussed also as a means of discriminating between tension and tremor in such cases, with particular reference to their psychosomatic meaning.