The British Journal of Psychiatry 137: 236-239 (1980)
© 1980 The Royal College of Psychiatrists
A longitudinal study of urinary excretion of N,N,-dimethyltryptamine in psychotic patients
SA Checkley, RM Murray, MC Oon, R Rodnight and JL Birley
The excretion of N,N,-dimethyltryptamine (DMT) has been measured in
longitudinal studies of five patients with schizophrenic illnesses and in
four patients with rapidly or slowly cycling manic-depressive illness. The
excretion of DMT was frequently raised in patients when they were psychotic
but was usually normal when they had recovered. However, rapid changes in
the severity of illness or sudden switches from one mood state to another
were not accompanied by changes in the excretion of DMT. These findings
contrast with the immediate hallucinogenic effects of an injection of DMT,
and suggest that the extracerebral production of DMT (as measured by its
urinary excretion) does not provoke the experience of hallucinations in
psychotic patients.