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Abstract
An 18-year-old male high school student with school refusal and circadian rhythm disturbance
is reported. At 17 years of age, he was unable to attend school because of a reversal
of the daily rhythm and a moderate depressive feeling. Other circadian rhythms, including
deep body temperature (DBT), and plasma melatonin, cortisol and β-endorphin, also
showed quite different or abnormal curves compared with those in normal controls.
He was treated with methyl B12 and melatonin, which normalized the circadian rhythm, i.e. it became entrained to
a 24-h period, and the DBT and hormonal rhythms became closer to normal patterns.
These results suggest that desynchronization of the biorhythms, particularly the circadian
rhythm, may be one of the important causes of school refusal in Japan, and melatonin
and methyl B12 might be useful for treatment of the condition.
Keywords
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Article info
Publication history
Accepted:
September 6,
1993
Received:
July 15,
1993
Identification
Copyright
© 1994 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved. Published by Elsevier Inc.
