LABORATORY AND BRANCH RESEARCH REVIEWS 89Laboratory of Clinical
Science, NIMH
The Laboratory of Clinical Science was the second joint basic-clinical
laboratory in the NIMH and was an amalgamation of a Section on
Clinical Biochemistry, a Section on Clinical Physiology, and a Psy
chosomatic Medicine Branch.^1 In keeping with his goal of studying
psychosomatic disorders, Cohen hired Norman Goldstein, from the
Mayo Clinic, to head the Section on Clinical Biochemistry, and
Edward V. Evarts, from the Payne Whitney Psychiatric Clinic of the
New York Presbyterian Hospital, to head the Section on Clinical
Physiology, until the ward facilities at the Clinical Center that would
allow for the study of psychosomatic patients became available.^2
Specifically, Cohen was interested in investigating how much influence
emotional factors exerted on such disorders; if so, by what mechanisms
and were there any specific emotions that led to specific bodily changes?
What types of treatments were effective for such disorders?^3
The Section on Clinical Biochemistry applied basic biochemical
research and techniques to clinical psychiatry and investigated the
metabolism of drugs that caused psychotic-like episodes in human
beings (e.g., LSD) and the abnormal quantities of biochemical sub
stances produced by neuropsychiatric disorders.^4
Specifically, the section investigated: 1) phenolic compounds in the
spinal fluid of schizophrenic patients; 2) the relationship of chymotryp
sin inhibitor and anxiety in an organism responding to stress; 3) the
effect of stress on anti-diuretic activity of the blood in normal and schizo
phrenic patients; and 4) the biochemistry of myelin and its changes
accompanying breakdown.^5
The Section on Clinical Physiology collaborated with the Section on
Clinical Biochemistry and the basic Laboratory of Neurophysiology in