Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-p2v8j Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-30T19:43:52.625Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Drug-Induced Schizophrenia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 February 2018

A. Hoffer
Affiliation:
University Hospital, Saskatoon
M. J. Callbeck
Affiliation:
University Hospital, Saskatoon

Extract

Medical research is simpler and generally more productive when it becomes possible to use models. This experimental method is available to psychiatrists who find that certain chemicals called hallucinogens (13) produce in subjects experiences which resemble those described by patients who now have schizophrenia or by those who have recovered. Lewin (19), Kluver (18) and Stockings (31) suggested many years ago that these compounds could be used in this way. However, the differences between these model experiences and schizophrenia rather than their similarities impressed many leading psychiatrists. Thus Bleuler (4) as late as 1956 maintained that lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD-25) produced a toxic delirium and therefore this experience had little to offer to the students of schizophrenia. The fallacy of this argument was discussed by Osmond (23) who with Smythies (24) stressed many points of similarity between schizophrenia and the mescaline experience. The consensus today of research psychiatrists such as Rinkel (26, 27, 28, 29), Hoch (10, 11) and others is that the similarities are adequate, provided generalizations remain within the limits imposed by the data.

Type
Original Articles
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1960 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Literature Cited

1. Ayd, F. J., “Drug-induced depression. Fact or fallacy”, New York State J. Med., 1958, 58, 354356.Google Scholar
2. Bateson, G., Jackson, D. D., Haley, J., and Weakland, J., “Toward a theory of schizophrenia”, Behavioural Scences, 1956, 1, 251264.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
3. Beyer, K. H., “The action of Vitamin C and phenol oxidase in the inactivation of beta phenylisopropylamine (amphetamine)”, J. Pharm. Exper. Ther., 1941, 71, 394.Google Scholar
4. Bleuler, M., “Psychiatrische Irrtümer in der Serotonin Forschung”, Deutsche Med. Wochenschrift, 1956, 27, 10781081.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
5. Burn, J. H., and Rand, J. M., “Reserpine and noradrenaline in artery walls”, Lancet, 1957, Nov. 30, p. 1097.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
6. Carlsson, A., Lindquist, M., Magnusson, T., and Waldeck, B., “On the presence of 3-hydroxytyramine in brain”, Science, 1958, 127, 471.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
7. Chwelos, N., Blewett, D., Hoffer, A., and Smith, C., “Use of LSD-25 in the treatment of chronic alcoholism”, Washington: N.A.A.A.P. Research Conference, 1958.Google Scholar
8. Everett, G. M., and Toman, J. E. P., “Mode of action of rauwolfia alkaloids and motor activity”, Biological Psychiatry, 1959. Edited by Masserman, J. H. New York: Grune and Stratton.Google Scholar
9. Heacock, R. A., and Laidlaw, B. D., “The reduction of adrenochrome with ascorbic acid”, Nature, 1958, 182, 526.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
10. Hoch, P., “Studies in routes of administration and counteracting drugs”, Lysergic Acid Diethylamide and Mescaline in Experimental Psychiatry, 1956 (ed. by Cholden, L.). New York: Grune and Stratton.Google Scholar
11. Idem , Cattell, J. P., and Pennes, H. H., “Effects of mescaline and lysergic acid”, Am. J. Psych., 1952, 108, 579.Google Scholar
12. Hoffer, A., personal observation, 1958.Google Scholar
13. Idem , Osmond, H., and Smythies, J., “Schizophrenia: A new approach. II. Result of a year's research”, J. Ment. Sci., 1954, 100, 2945.Google Scholar
14. Osmond, H., Callbeck, M. J., and Kahan, I., “Treatment of schizophrenia with nicotinic acid and nicotinamide”, J. Clin. Exper. Psychopath., 1957, 18, 131158.Google Scholar
15. Holzbauer, M., and Vogt, M., “Depression by reserpine of the noradrenaline concentration in the hypothalamus of the cat”, J. Neurochem., 1956, 1, 811.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
16. John, E. R., Wenzel, B. M., and Tschirgi, R. D., “Differential effects on various conditioned response in cats caused by intra-ventricular and intramuscular injections of reserpine and other substances”, J. Pharm. Exper. Ther., 1958, 123, 193205.Google Scholar
17. Kies, M. W., Horst, D., Evarts, E. V., an Goldstein, N. P., “Antidiuretic effect of lysergic acid diethylamide in humans”, Arch. Neur. Psychiatry, 1957, 77, 267269.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
18. Kluver, H., Mescal. The “Divine” Plant and Its Psychological Effects, 1928. Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner and Co.Google Scholar
19. Lewin, L., Phantastica: Narcotic and Stimulating Drugs: Their Use and Abuse, 1931. London: K. Paul, Trench, Trubner and Co.Google Scholar
20. Liddell, D. W., and Weil-Malherbe, H., “The effects of methedrine and of lysergic acid diethylamide on mental processes and on the blood adrenaline level”, J. Neur. Neurosurg. Psychiatry, 1953, 16, 7.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
21. Muscholl, E., and Vogt, M., “The action of reserpine on the peripheral sympathetic system”, J. Physiol., 1958, 141, 132155.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
22. Olds, J., and Olds, M. E., “Positive reinforcement produced by stimulating hypothalamus with iproniazid and other compounds”, Science, 1958, 127, 11751176.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
23. Osmond, H., “Chemical Concepts of Psychoses”, in Historical Contributions, 1958 (ed. by Rinkel, M. and Denber, H. C. B.). New York: McDowell-Obolensky.Google Scholar
24. Idem , and Smythies, J., “Schizophrenia: a new approach”, J. Ment. Sci., 1952, 98, 309315.Google Scholar
25. Pletscher, A., Shore, P. A., and Brodie, B. B., “Serotonin release as a possible mechanism of reserpine action”, Science, 1955, 122, 374.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
26. Rinkel, M., DeShon, H. J., Hyde, R. W., and Solomon, H. C., “Experimental schizophrenia-like symptoms”, Amer. J. Psychiatry, 1952, 108, 572.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
27. Idem , Hyde, R. W., Solomon, H. C., and Hoagland, H., “Experimental psychiatry. II. Clinical and physiochemical observations in experimental psychosis”, Amer. J. Psychiatry, 1955, 111, 881895.Google Scholar
28. Idem , Hyde, R., and Solomon, H. C., “Experimental psychiatry. IV. Hallucinogens: tools in experimental psychiatry”, Dis. Nerv. System, 1955, 16, 229232.Google Scholar
29. Rinkel, M., “Pharmacodynamics of LSD and mescaline”, J. Nerv. Ment. Dis., 1957, 125, 424427.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
30. Smith, C., “A new adjunct to the treatment of alcoholism: the hallucinogenic drugs”, Quarterly J. Stud. Alcohol, 1958, 19, 406417.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
31. Stockings, G. T., “A clinical study of the mescaline psychosis with special reference to the mechanism of the genesis of schizophrenic and other psychotic states”, J. Ment. Sci., 1940, 86, 29.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.