Stress and the major psychiatric illnesses.

Sixty patients who had a major psychiatric breakdown following stress were studied. The mode of presentation of one group led to the suspicion of a reactive psychosis and comparison with the other group showed that in terms of the actual or threatened loss of an emotionally significant person, the temporal relationship between stress and illness and the distribution of vulnerable personalities, there was a significant difference between the groups. The sex ratio and frequency distribution for age were also suggestive. In view of the above and the known clinical course of the illness and comparison with the work of major workers in this field, it seems reasonable to believe that grounds exist for accepting the diagnosis of reactive psychoses in Sri Lanka.