Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-g7gxr Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-20T00:37:40.917Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Psychiatric Aspects of Diabetes Mellitus

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2018

D. H. C. Surridge
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada
D. L. Williams Erdahl
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, Queen's University
J. S. Lawson
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, Queen's University
M. W. Donald
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, Queen's University
T. N. Monga
Affiliation:
Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, Queen's University
C. E. Bird
Affiliation:
Department of Medicine, Queen's University
F. J. J. Letemendia
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, Queen's University

Summary

A descriptive study of the psychiatric findings in 50 insulin—dependent diabetics is presented. Among the symptoms found were a marked reduction in energy level, increased fatigue and irritability, depression, and delayed psychosexual maturation. Diabetes mellitus is commonly considered to be a disease that, if properly controlled, allows the patient to lead a relatively normal life. We found, however, that these symptoms often made the patients' lives uncomfortable, reduced their functional capacity, disrupted their family life, and disturbed the adolescence of those who were affected at an early age.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © 1984 The Royal College of Psychiatrists 

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

Bale, R. N. (1973) Brain damage in diabetes mellitus. British Journal of Psychiatry, 122, 337–41.Google Scholar
Beck, A. T., Ward, C. H., Mendelson, M., Mock, J. & Erbaugh, J. (1961) An inventory for measuring depression. Archives of General Psychiatry, 4, 5363.Google Scholar
Dejong, R. N. (1977) CNS manifestations of diabetes mellitus. Postgraduate Medicine, 61 (1), 101–7.Google Scholar
Donald, M. W., Bird, C. E., Lawson, J. S., Letemendia, F. J. J., Monga, T. N., Surridge, D. H. C., Varette-Cerre, P., Williams, D. L., Williams, D. M. L. & Wilson, D. L. (1981). Delayed auditory brain-stem responses in diabetes mellitus. Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry, 44 (7), 641–4.Google Scholar
Donald, M. W., Bird, C. E., El-Sawy, R., Hart, P., Lawson, S. Letemendia, F. J. J., Surridge, D. H. C. & Wilson, D. L. (1980) Cortical evoked potentials and auditory decision times in diabetics. Progress in Brain Research, 54, 516–21.Google Scholar
Greydanus, D. E. & Hofmann, A. D. (1979) Psychological factors in diabetes mellitus. American Journal of Diseases of Children, 133, 1061–66.Google Scholar
Guthrie, H. A. (1975) Introductory Nutrition, 3rd ed., p. 501. St. Louis, Missourri: C. V. Mosby.Google Scholar
Hamilton, M. (1960) A rating scale for depression. Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry, 23, 5662.Google Scholar
Johnson, F. G. (1973) Self injury. Canadian Psychiatric Association Journal, 18, 101.Google Scholar
Knowles, H. C. (1971) Diabetes mellitus in childhood and adolescence. Medical Clinics of North America, 55 (4), 975–89.Google Scholar
Koski, M. L., Ahlas, A., & Kumento, A. (1976) A psychosomatic follow-up study of childhood diabetics. Acta Paedopsychiatrica (Basel), 42 (1) 1226.Google Scholar
Lawson, J. S., Williams, D. L., Monga, T. N., Bird, C. E., Donald, M. W., Letemendia, F. J. J. & Surridge, D. H. C. (1984) Neuropsychological function in diabetic patients with neuropathy. British Journal of Psychiatry, 145, 263268.Google Scholar
Letemendia, F. J. J., Surridge, D. H. C., Donald, M. W., Bird, C. E., Lawson, J. S., El-Sawy, R., Wilson, D. L. & Hart, P. (1979) Neuropsychiatrie aspects of diabetes mellitus. Annals of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada, 12 (1), 81. (Abstract) Google Scholar
MacGregor, M. (1977) Juvenile diabetics growing up. Lancet, i, 944–5.Google Scholar
Mills, J. E., Sanders, K. M. & Martin, F. I. R. (1973) Socioeconomic problems of insulin-dependent diabetes. Medical Journal of Australia, 2, 1040–4.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Reske-Nielsen, E., Lundbaek, K. & Rafaelsen, O. J. (1965) Pathological changes in the central and peripheral nervous system of young long-term diabetics. I: Diabetic encephalopathy. Diabetologia, 1, 233–41.Google Scholar
Rosen, H. & Lidz, T. (1949) Emotional factors in the precipitation of recurrent diabetic acidosis. Psychosomatic Medicine, 11, 211–15.Google Scholar
Schwab, J. J., Bialow, M. R. & Holzer, C. E. (1967) A comparison of two rating scales for depression, J. Clin. Psychol., 1967, 23, 94–6.Google Scholar
Stearns, S. (1959) Self-destructive behaviours in young patients with diabetes mellitus. Diabetes, 8, 379–82.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Swift, C. R., Seidman, F. & Stein, H. (1967) Adjustment problems in juvenile diabetics. Psychosomatic Medicine, 24(6), 556–71.Google Scholar
Tattersall, R. B. (1981) Psychiatric aspects of diabetes—a physicians view. British Journal of Psychiatry, 139, 485–93.Google Scholar
Wilkinson, D. G. (1981) Psychiatric aspects of diabetes mellitus. British Journal of Psychiatry, 138, 19.Google Scholar
Wing, J. K., Birley, J. L. T., Cooper, J. E., Graham, P. & Isaacs, A. D. (1967) Reliability of a procedure for measuring and classifying ‘present psychiatric state’. British Journal of Psychiatry, 113, 499515.Google Scholar
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.