PERSONALITY CHANGES IN CUSHING'S SYNDROME*

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Abstract
IN THE past five years there has been an increasing number of reports describing mental disturbances precipitated by treatment with ACTH and cortisone (1, 2). Another sequel of administering excess ACTH is the occurrence of the typical Cushing's syndrome (3). Thus there arises the question whether the hormonal changes that are responsible for this syndrome may not also represent a chemical basis for the psychiatric changes. Since the original description by Dr. Cushing in 1932 (4), various authors have recognized that mental disturbances are frequent concomitants of the syndrome. Many papers make brief or casual reference to extreme depression and dullness. In the past, however, these emotional alterations have almost always been attributed to poor social adjustment secondary to the often repulsive appearance of these patients. The mental symptoms were regarded as nonspecific affective disorders which were interpreted as the result of self-consciousness. Maclay and Stokes (5) and Schlesinger and Horwitz (6) were among the first to suggest specificity in the relation between the psychosis and endocrine dysfunction in this syndrome.

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