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The Treatment of a Chronic Organic Mental Disorder with Dextromethorphan in a Man with Severe Mental Retardation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

Leisa Welch  and
Robert Sovner
Leisa Welch
Affiliation:
Craig D.D.S.O., Geneseo, New York
Robert Sovner*
Affiliation:
Harvard Community Health Plan, Medford Center, Mental Health Department, 26 City Hall Mall, Medford, MA02155, USA
*
∗Correspondence
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Abstract

Response to dextromethorphan (15 mg b.i.d.), an antitussive agent not usually considered to have psychotropic properties, was seen in a 25–year-old man with severe developmental disabilities, congenital rubella, and an organic mental disorder. Dextromethorphan affects CNS serotonergic systems, and this was the probable therapeutic mechanism. This and other published cases suggest the existence of a distinct organic mental syndrome in developmentally disabled persons which responds to drugs that increase indoleaminergic activity.

Type
Brief Reports
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 161 , Issue 1 , July 1992 , pp. 118 - 120
Copyright
Copyright © 1992 The Royal College of Psychiatrists 

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