Thirty patients were studied within twenty-four hours of admission to the psychiatric section of a general hospital in an attempt to determine: 1, whether acutely disturbed patients have elevated blood levels of adrenocortical and thyroid hormones; 2, how long such elevated levels last; 3, what psychological processes are closely associated with high hormone levels; and 4, what changes in hormone level occur in association with decreasing emotional disturbance. Each patient was interviewed in the morning following admission for from twenty to