Studies of Proteolytic Enzyme Systems in Patients with Emotional Disorders. ∗

Abstract

Summary

These investigations imply that emotional disorders are accompanied by changes in protein metabolism and adrenal activity. The protein metabolic disturbances are generally in the direction of increased catabolism. being well correlated with emotional response when the disorder is essentially an anxiety reaction to acute stress, less well correlated in schizophrenic psychosis, but sometimes still pronounced and, finally, lacking in correlation in the presence of conversion hysteria. Furthermore, a comparison of schizophrenic psychotics with normal controls reveals that the former exhibit a generally higher and more variable state of adrenal activity. It is hoped that these ostensibly unrelated sets of data may eventually become integrated with a coherent concept of individual reactions to stress.