[The dominant inheritance of periodic catatonia]

In 143 patients suffering from periodic catatonia we found the disease in a direct succession five times in four generations and 17 times in three generations. With direct succession in four generations we found in two cases manifest psychosis in all generations, in three generations one member was formed by a most severely abnormal personality. In the sequence of three generations, the psychosis occurred continuously in ten families, in seven cases an abnormal personality pointed to the disease by his peculiarities. Since the occurrence of psychic diseases and abnormalities in the family is frequently concealed, the cases found are of great importance and indicate a dominant hereditary course. This assumption is substantiated by number of diseased half-brothers and sisters. Cataphasia in several generations in a direct sequence is a rarer phenomenon. Besides periodic catatonia, it showed the greatest affliction among the various forms of schizophrenia.