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Symptomatology of Psychic Richkets.
—Corrspding to the three stages of the disease, there are three types of psychic disturbance: (a) for the active stage—rachitic catatonia; (b) for the chronic stage and regressive stage—rachitic feeblemindedness; (c) for the fixed stage of rachitic deformity (dwarfism and scoliosis)—a paranoid late stage. This third stage is wholly independent of the other two and unrelated to them.a. Rachitic Catatonia: If a child, aged 6 months, suffering from active rickets is studied, one finds the normal cheerfulness replaced by striking depression. The child is weepy; left to itself it lies, dull and apathetic, without interest in the surroundings, without occupation, without the desire to play. This state of apathy or stupor can go so far that objects such as building blocks, set up on the forehead, are allowed to remain—a type of catalepsy. According to Thiemich, even flexibilitas cerea