Descriptive Psychopathology: The Signs and Symptoms of ...

166 Section 3: Examination domainsvertigo with visual hallucinations are common prodromes. “Amoks” that are notthemselves killed are found in stupor and are amnestic for the attack. Systematicexaminations of Amok perpetrators have not been done, but case literature suggeststhe presence of catatonic features similar to those seen in Latah. Seizure disorderand psychotic mood disorder are possible etiologies. 47 William Hammond offereda nineteenth-century example of Amok that he considered a form of monomaniawith depression:Within a recent period several such cases have occurred in this city [New York], one of whichI had the opportunity of investigating. It was that of a Frenchman ... who, having for severalyears been affected with delusions of wrongs and injuries being done to him, and having madeseveral assaults on persons whom he imagined had conspired against him, finally rushed througha crowded street, striking right and left with a pair of carpenter’s compasses at every woman hemet. Some seven persons were stabbed by him, one of whom died. The only reason he could giveme for his conduct was that “the women were talking about him” ... the affliction is oftentransformed into melancholia, and it is then, doubtless, the tendency to suicide is exhibited. 48Lycanthropy, associated with eastern European lore of wolf-men, is the combinationof catatonia with the delusional belief of being changed into an animaldue to the influence of the devil. Delusional memories of eating children, killingdomestic animals, having coitus with the devil, and interacting with demons wererelated by sufferers. Associated manic excitement, or “dancing mania” or tarentismis described. Sufferers acted as if wild animals. Epidemics of the syndrome werereported in eastern Europeans during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.Many sufferers were tortured and burnt as witches, accused by their neighborsout of spite or greed. 49 Fink and Taylor describe a man who was found by theNew York police scurrying around the streets on all fours, roaring, snapping, andbiting at passers-by. In the hospital, the man became mute and immobile withgeneralized analgesia and automatic obedience. He said later that he thought hewas a tiger. 50DyspraxiaDyspraxia in a patient with a psychiatric syndrome suggests structural braindisease. 51 Dyspraxia is the inability to perform simple motor tasks despiteadequate motor strength, the somatosensory guidance of movement, and anunderstanding of the task to be performed.Ideo-motor dyspraxiaIdeo-motor dyspraxia is the inability to link the idea of the motor task (ideo) tothe movement (motor). The resulting action is incorrect, awkward, or cannot be