Horenstein M
Presse Med. 1986 Jun 28;15(26):1230-6.
For many years, the symptoms grouped under the label "spasmophilia" have been differently evaluated in France by psychiatrists, who ascribe them to hysteria or anxiety, and by endocrinologists and general practitioners for whom they are all due to neuromuscular hyperexcitability, the cause of which must be sought in the biochemistry of calcium. Recent studies on anxiety should reduce the gap between these discordant views. The concept of anxiety itself has changed owing to the discriminant effects of psychotropic drugs and to a classification based on precise diagnostic criteria without theoretical presuppositions. Since anxiety can be biochemically induced, the hypotheses put forward by "spasmophilologists", such as disorders of calcium metabolism or hyperventilation, can now be tested in the laboratory.
多年来，法国的精神病医生和内分泌学家及全科医生对归类于“痉挛素质”名下的症状有着不同的评估。精神病医生将这些症状归因于癔症或焦虑，而内分泌学家和全科医生则认为它们都源于神经肌肉兴奋性过高，其病因必须从钙的生物化学中去寻找。最近关于焦虑的研究应该会缩小这些不一致观点之间的差距。由于精神药物的鉴别作用以及基于精确诊断标准且无理论预设的分类方法，焦虑这一概念本身已经发生了变化。既然焦虑可以通过生物化学方式诱发，那么“痉挛素质研究者”提出的假设，比如钙代谢紊乱或换气过度，现在就可以在实验室中进行检验。
