LYMPHOCYTES IN THE PSYCHONEUROSES
Preliminary Observations
HARLEY C. SHANDS M. D.1, and
JACOB E. FINESINGER M. D.1
1 The Department of Medicine and the Department of Neurology and Psychiatry of the Harvard Medical School and the Department of Physical Medicine and the Massachusetts General Hospital branch of the Hall-Mercer Psychiatric Hospital.
We have studied variations in absolute numbers of lymphocytes under conditions of daily living in small groups of normal controls and psychoneurotic patients. There CIRCULATING LYMPHOCYTES DURING STRESS AND NON-STRESS INTERVIEWS (MEAN VALUES) [See Source Pdf for Fig. 8] seems to be little difference between the controls and patients with anxiety neuroses in either males or females. In the female patients, a considerable group had diagnoses of hysteria, and in these the level of lymphocyte numbers during the day seemed appreciably lower than in the other groups.
In a series of 13 pairs of stress and non-stress interviews, in 8 of the 13 there was evidence that the discussion of disturbing topics produced a mild alarm reaction.
