PREVIOUS investigators1 have noted abnormalities in the carbohydrate metabolism of psychotic persons. Their studies have concentrated chiefly on the response of the blood sugar to ingested dextrose, and have revealed that there exists a reduction in the dextrose tolerance, with resulting diabetic-like levels of blood sugar. To determine whether this abnormal trend is due to a dysfunction of the insulinogenic mechanisms, Freeman1a and Braceland1c investigated the insulin tolerance of schizophrenic subjects and found that such patients show a less pronounced fall in blood sugar after the administration of insulin than do normal subjects.
In order to determine whether resistance to insulin is a characteristic feature of the schizophrenic psychosis alone, I made a study of this function in other mental disorders.
METHOD AND MATERIAL
The subjects included 93 soldiers discharged from the Army for psychiatric disorders. The average age of the patients lay between 20 and 25.