Olsen points out the close relationship between various forms of visceral crises and the occurrence of psychotic or irrational behavior. Paroxysmal pain, associated with autonomic crises, or with metabolic or endocrine disorders, is characteristically accompanied by mental unrest. Visceral crises, as well as actual

visceral disease, may precipitate psychosis, and sometimes the mental aberration may be sufficient to diagnose the underlying visceral lesion even in the absence of other somatic symptoms. The application of this knowledge is helpful in diagnosis and treatment, as well as in the determination of insurance eligibility and legal responsibility. The general assumption that the development of organic disease of the brain and other viscera improves the general mental state is not justifiable.