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On the Action of Barbituric Acid Compounds
A Contribution to the Prolonged Narcosis Treatment of Mental Symptoms
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 19 February 2018
Extract
Since 1922, when Kläsi's work on prolonged narcosis with somnifen—a mixture of barbitals—appeared, this form of treatment has become an integral part of the armamentarium of psychiatry. Patients suffering from various psychoses were subjected for a longer or shorter period to intoxication by a hypnotic, with or without the production of a prolonged sleep. Successes—sometimes very great successes—were claimed for this treatment. The number of publications on this subject is so large and the successes described therein so numerous, that the clinical worker is in duty bound to form an independent opinion regarding this method. The question is whether there is anything in this therapeutic method which psychiatry should retain, what that something is, and whether or not we can improve its system of procedure. Too great an enthusiasm is equally dangerous here, as is underrating the method because of a single unfortunate experience during or following the treatment.
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- Part I.—Original Articles
- Information
- Copyright
- Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1933
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