ANDROGYNAE, 17 KETOSTEROID EXCRETION AND M-f PROFILE IN MENTAL ILLNESS

For centuries it has been a common belief that any abnormality of physique is an accompaniment of mental illness. Recently interest has been focussed on the degree of masculinity or conversely feminity in the constitution. An index of this parameter called ‘androgynae’ can be derived from Taner's formula. Physique acts as a manifestation of the gene complex mediated possibly through endocrines and hence should reflect on the excretion pattern of 17 ketosteroids. Personality being a constitutional variation, it ought to be related to physique and in turn to the androgenic activities. M—f profile of the MMPI should locate such variation in that case. Present work was planned to find out implication of each of these parameters and to see if there is any correlation between them. It was seen that the psychiatric patients had low androgynae scores than the normals but the 17 ketosteroid excretion was higher. This was unexpected. M-f profile of the patients did not show any significant difference from the control. Results are discussed in the light of available literature.