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An Association of Spasmodic Torticollis and Writer's Cramp

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2018

Russell Meares
Russell Meares*
Affiliation:
Departments of Medicine and Psychiatry, University of Melbourne, Austen Hospital, Heidelberg, Victoria, Australia
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Extract

The aetiology of those movement disorders characterized by localized, involuntary intermittent, and repetitive muscular spasm remains obscure. They include spasmodic torticollis, writer's and other occupational cramps, and facial spasms. The obscurity is reflected in psychiatric and neurological classification. Some, or all, are frequently regarded as conversion symptoms, although they differ profoundly from those typical of that group, particularly in terms of prognosis. Secondly, some, or all, have been regarded as variants of dystonia musculorum deformans. Otherwise, they occupy an indeterminate or ‘miscellaneous' place in classification. If it could be shown that a substantial number of clinical characteristics are shared by those who exhibit localized spasmodic conditions, they could justifiably be regarded as a distinct nosological entity. This might reasonably be regarded as a step towards clarifying their aetiology.

Type
Research Article
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 119 , Issue 551 , October 1971 , pp. 441 - 442
Copyright
Copyright © The Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1971 

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References

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