Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-gxg78 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-22T16:01:51.253Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

An Association of Spasmodic Torticollis and Writer's Cramp

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2018

Russell Meares
Russell Meares*
Affiliation:
Departments of Medicine and Psychiatry, University of Melbourne, Austen Hospital, Heidelberg, Victoria, Australia
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

The aetiology of those movement disorders characterized by localized, involuntary intermittent, and repetitive muscular spasm remains obscure. They include spasmodic torticollis, writer's and other occupational cramps, and facial spasms. The obscurity is reflected in psychiatric and neurological classification. Some, or all, are frequently regarded as conversion symptoms, although they differ profoundly from those typical of that group, particularly in terms of prognosis. Secondly, some, or all, have been regarded as variants of dystonia musculorum deformans. Otherwise, they occupy an indeterminate or ‘miscellaneous' place in classification. If it could be shown that a substantial number of clinical characteristics are shared by those who exhibit localized spasmodic conditions, they could justifiably be regarded as a distinct nosological entity. This might reasonably be regarded as a step towards clarifying their aetiology.

Type
Research Article
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 119 , Issue 551 , October 1971 , pp. 441 - 442
Copyright
Copyright © The Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1971 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Cagney, (1895–96). ‘Writer's cramp simulating torticollis.’ Clin. J. Lond., 1895–6, vii, 219.Google Scholar
Crisp, A. H., and Moldofsky, H. (1965). ‘A psychometric study of writer's cramp.’ Brit. J. Psychiat., 111, 841.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Herz, E., and Hoefer, P. F. A. (1949). ‘Spasmodic torticollis: physiologic analysis of involuntary motor activity.’ Arch. Neurol. Psychiat., 61, 291.Google Scholar
Knowles, J. F., and Kreitman, N. (1965). ‘The Eysenck Personality Inventory; some considerations.’ Brit. J. Psychiat., 111, 755.Google Scholar
Meares, R. (1971a). ‘Obsessionality and the Sandler-Hazari Scale.’ Brit. J. med. Psychol., 44, 2, 181–2.Google Scholar
Meares, R. (1971b). ‘Features which distinguish groups of spasmodic torticollis.’ J. psychosom. Res., 15, 1–11.Google Scholar
Poore, (1873). ‘Case of clonic torticollis treated by the continuous galvanic current and the rhythmical exercise of the affected muscles.’ Lancet, ii, 520.Google Scholar
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.