218 THE SEX-COMPLEX 



Psychoses as- the present day, when women are claiming so much for 

 apparently 1 ^ themselves, it is very difficult to get at the truth of 

 normal men- ma tters, for women engaged in scientific pursuits spend 



struation. 



much of their time trying to convince the public that 

 the psychical and physical economies of their sex differ 

 not at all from those of men. Statistics are produced 

 to prove this contention ; but in all these statistics the 

 ready acceptance of the patient's statement is note- 

 worthy, yet we know how unreliable are personal con- 

 fessions when the mental condition is challenged. It 

 is difficult, however, to discuss the matter in general 

 terms, so I shall proceed to the particular. 



The minor degrees of psychical disturbance are seen 

 in mental depression, vacillation or timidity. "\Vhat is 

 often ascribed to carelessness in breaking crockery or 

 forgetfulness of orders in servants may be due to 

 inattention brought about by menstruation; and with 

 this inattention are associated mental irritability, dull- 

 ness of perception and imperfect judgments, phenomena 

 which are often accompanied by a feeling of physical 

 exhaustion. 



The rarer major psychoses may be represented by 

 temporary insanities, of which Konig 1 states the com- 

 moner forms are the maniacal, the melancholic and 

 the hallucinatory. More frequently the patient suffers 

 either with severe mental depression or with kleptomania. 

 Sometimes a patient may be a kleptomaniac without 

 showing any other definite psychical disturbance. 



The etiology of menstrual psychoses of a cyclical 

 nature is imperfectly understood. There is no doubt, of 

 course, that they are due either to temporarily dis- 

 ordered metabolism or to the circulation of what may 

 be called ' toxins ' in the blood. But these are very 

 general terms. In view of the influence of the crypto- 

 rrhceic organs on the psychical condition of everyone, 

 normal and abnormal, it is not improbable that disturb- 

 ances in the thyroid and other organs of internal 

 secretion may play a large part in causation. Indeed, 



1 Konig, H., Berl Klin. Woch., 1912, vol. Ixix, p. 1645. 



