Hostname: page-component-76fb5796d-22dnz Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-26T15:56:52.713Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

The Effect of Sodium Amytal on Autonomic and Muscle Activity in Patients with Depressive Illness

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2018

Irene Martin
Affiliation:
Institute of Psychiatry, Maudsley Hospital, London, S.E.5
Brian M. Davies
Affiliation:
Bethlem Royal Hospital; University of Melbourne

Extract

The two studies described here were concerned with the effect of intravenous sodium amytal on autonomic and muscle activity in groups of female patients admitted to the Bethlem Royal Hospital with a primary depressive illness. The first aimed to repeat certain aspects of the work of Shagass et al. (1956) on sleep thresholds in which reactions to sodium amytal were correlated with clinical groupings. The clinical findings of this experiment have already been reported (Martin and Davies, 1962), and its results suggested some methodological problems which prompted a second experiment employing a modified experimental design.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1965 

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

Claridge, G. (1963). “Excitation-inhibition and the theory of neurosis: a study of the sedation threshold.” In: Experiments with Drugs (ed. Eysenck, H. J.). Oxford: Pergamon Press.Google Scholar
Davis, J. F. (1952). Manual of Surface Electromyography. Montreal: Laboratory for Psychological Studies, Allen Memorial Institute of Psychiatry (mimeo.).Google Scholar
Malmo, R. B., and Davis, J. F. (1961). “A monopolar method of measuring palmar conductance.” Amer. J. Psychol., 74, 106112.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Malmo, R. B. and Smith, A. A. (1955). “Forehead tension and motor irregularities in psychoneurotic patients under stress.” J. Personality, 23, 391406.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Martin, Irene and Davies, Brian M. (1962). “Sleep thresholds in depression.” J. Ment. Sci., 108, 466473.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sainsbury, P., and Gibson, J. J. (1954). “Symptoms of anxiety and tension and the accompanying physiological changes in the muscular system.” J. Neurol. Psychiat., 17, 216224.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shaoass, C., Naiman, J., and Mihalik, J. (1956). “An objective test which differentiates between neurotic and psychotic depression.” A.M.A. Arch. Neurol. Psychiat., 75, 461471.Google Scholar
Wang, G. H. (1957). “The galvanic skin reflex. A review of old and recent works from a physiologic point of view. Part 1.” Amer. J. Phys. Med., 36, 295320.Google Scholar
Wang, G. H. (1958). “The galvanic skin reflex. A review of old and recent works from a physiologic point of view. Part 2.” Ibid., 37, 3557.Google Scholar
Whatmore, George E., and Ems, Richard M. (1959). “Some neurophysiologic aspects of depressed states. An electromyographic study.” A.M.A. Arch. Gen. Psychiat., 1, 7080.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wikler, Abraham (1957). The Relation of Psychiatry to Pharmacology. Baltimore: Williams and Wilkins.Google Scholar
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.