A simplification of terms places mental disease into three general classes. Psychoses, Psychoneuroses, and Behavior Disorders. The subdivisions of these classes are not universally accepted and the musician who works in a mental hospital will soon become acquainted with the locally practiced terminology.
As a guide to vocabulary rather than an introduction to psychiatry, a brief review of some of the prominent symptoms of mental disease will be enumerated. The scientific material is based on Noyes’[62] excellent text.
The following list of the more common mental diseases is based upon the classification offered by the National Committee for Mental Hygiene.
Psychoses
- General Paresis
- Alcoholic
- Hardening of the Brain Arteries
- Senility
- Involutional Melancholia
- Manic-Depressive
- Schizophrenia
- Hysteria—anxiety, conversion
- Hypochondriasis
- Maladjustment
- Habit or conduct disturbance
- Amoral, immoral, emotional
Detailed descriptions are confusing to the layman because within one disease subclass, the variations possible as a result of duration, time of onset, mental background, etc. are very great. Only generalizations will be mentioned.
The two major divisions of mental disease—psychosis and psychoneurosis—are not always readily differentiated. In the psychotic, the personality is usually distorted, whereas in the psychoneurotic the personality remains normal in relation to the realities of the world and social life. The psychotic is the more obviously deranged, the psychoneurotic usually passes for almost normal.