Mental Changes Accompanying Thyroid Gland Dysfunction

Abstract

AN APPARENT association between the function of the thyroid gland and the concurrent mental state has been acknowledged since the earliest descriptions of both myxedema and thyrotoxicosis. 1,2 Subsequently, clinical reports and studies attempting to clarify this relationship have led to an extensive literature on the subject. Some workers have attempted to define a specific mental disturbance secondary to thyroid gland dysfunction and conversely, perhaps stimulated by the protean actions of thyroid hormone, others have sought a disturbance of thyroid function in individuals with various psychiatric syndromes, speculating that the gland might play a contributing part in the pathogenesisof the disorders. 3-6 With such extensive previous study one might question the purpose of a further evaluation of the mental changes occurring in thyroid gland dysfunction. It is our opinion, however, that much remains to be clarified. Many previous studies have been