Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-42gr6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-19T14:13:00.775Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Preliminary Investigations of the Effects of Sernyl upon Cognitive and Sensory Processes

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 February 2018

H. R. Beech ,
Brian M. Davies  and
F. S. Morgenstern
H. R. Beech
Affiliation:
Bethlem Royal and Maudsley Hospitals
Brian M. Davies
Affiliation:
Bethlem Royal and Maudsley Hospitals
F. S. Morgenstern
Affiliation:
Bethlem Royal and Maudsley Hospitals
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

In a previous paper, Davies and Beech (4) presented data obtained from both clinical observations and psychological tests on normal subjects under the influence of Sernyl. In that paper an account was given of the chemical constitution and action of the drug. It is not necessary to say more here than that this compound is a synthetic cyclohexylamine derivative that was introduced into anaesthetic practice because of its ability to produce analgesia without loss of consciousness. It appears to act mainly at the thalamic level and produces changes in the reception of sensory stimuli. Post-operatively, however, psychiatric disturbances were common and the use of the drug in anaesthetic practice was curtailed. Our interest in Sernyl has centred upon its psychotomimetic effects and its possible mode of action. It has, in fact, been suggested that normal individuals under the influence of Sernyl behave, in some respects, like schizophrenic patients and that this similarity is most striking in the case of thinking processes. In the further investigation of the effects of this drug it was therefore decided to test the hypothesis that Sernyl produces mental disturbances which are characteristic of thought-disordered schizophrenics.

Type
Original Articles
Information
Journal of Mental Science , Volume 107 , Issue 448 , May 1961 , pp. 509 - 513
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1961 

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

1 Bannister, D., “An Application of Personal Construct Theory to Schizoid Thinking”, Unpubl. Ph.D. Thesis, Univ. of London, 1959.Google Scholar
2 Beech, H. R., “Psychological Problems of Solitude and Confinement”. Paper delivered at Institute of Biology Symposium on Space Travel”. London, 30 September, 2007.Google Scholar
3 Bexton, W. H., Heron, W., and Scott, T. H., “Effects of Decreased Variation in the Sensory Environment”, Canad. J. Psychol, 1954, 8, 70–76.Google Scholar
4 Davies, B. M., and Beech, H. R., “The Effect of 1-Arylcyclohexylamine (Sernyl) on Twelve Normal Volunteers”, J. ment. Sci., 1960, 106, 912–924.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
5 Doane, B. K., Mahatoo, W., Heron, W., and Scott, T. H., “Changes in Perceptual Function after Isolation”, Canad. J. Psychol., 1959, 13, 210.Google Scholar
6 Harris, A., “Sensory Deprivation and Schizophrenia”, J. ment. Sci., 1959, 105, 235–237.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
7 Lilly, J. C., “Mental Effects of Reduction of Ordinary Levels of Physical Stimuli on Intact Healthy Persons”, Psychiat. Res. Rep., 1956, No. 5, 1–9.Google Scholar
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.