Chapter 15 – Lucid Intervals
Mar 30th, 2008 by admin
This chapter describes the periodicity of mental illness. Ray notes that although episodes of improved function are common, they are also generally incomplete. That is, they are not usually defined by a complete and total remission of illness. Excerpts from both medical and legal works are cited, with one of the most eloquent by Dr. John Reid, and English physician.
“There are few cases of mania or melancholy where the light of reason does not now and then shine out between the clouds. In fever of the mind, as well as those of the body, there occur frequent intermissions. But the mere interruption of a disorder is not to be mistaken for its cure, or its ultimate conclusion. Little stress ought to be laid upon those occasional and uncertain disentanglements of the intellect, in which the patient is for a time only extricated from the labyrinth of his morbid hallucinations.”
Ray notes that during lucid intervals it is generally true that an individual is responsible for his actions. This assertion is followed by a stern warning to avoid assuming that this is the case, given the previously mentioned residual cognitive deficits previously noted. The length and quality of lucid intervals is highly variable, and indeed few assumptions of any kind should be made about function without a careful interview.