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Thyroid Disorders

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Medical Neuropsychology

Part of the book series: Critical Issues in Neuropsychology ((CINP))

Abstract

Caleb Parry was the first to describe hyperfunction of the thyroid gland in 1825 when he attributed the disorder to traumatic fear (Whybrow & Ferrell, 1974). Graves, 10 years later, again suggested psychogenic origins of hyperthyroidism in his description of the illness in 1835. Finally, in 1886, Mobius clearly differentiated a hyperthyroid syndrome of endocrine origin from the neuroses. Gull characterized a syndrome of hypothyroidism in 1873, but it remained for a report by the Committee of the Clinical Society of London in 1888 to identify symptoms of mental disturbance. Most of the myxedematous patients described in this report had symptoms “ranging from irritability to agoraphobia to dementia and melancholia” (Whybrow & Ferrell, 1974, p. 6).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, University of North Dakota, Grand Forks, North Dakota, 58202, USA

    Bill E. Beckwith

  2. Department of Psychology, University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon, 97403, USA

    Don M. Tucker

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  1. Bill E. Beckwith
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychiatry, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, and Western Psychiatric Institute & Clinic, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA

    Ralph E. Tarter  & Kathleen L. Edwards  & 

  2. Department of Gastroenterology, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA

    David H. Van Thiel

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Beckwith, B.E., Tucker, D.M. (1988). Thyroid Disorders. In: Tarter, R.E., Van Thiel, D.H., Edwards, K.L. (eds) Medical Neuropsychology. Critical Issues in Neuropsychology. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4757-1165-3_8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4757-1165-3_8

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