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Effects of Hypnotics on Anxious Patients

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2018

Ann Malpas ,
N. J. Legg  and
D. F. Scott
Ann Malpas
Affiliation:
Department of Pharmacology and Therapeutics, London Hospital Medical College, London E1 1BB
N. J. Legg
Affiliation:
Imperial Cancer Research Fund, Lincoln's Inn Fields, London WC2A 3PX
D. F. Scott
Affiliation:
Section of Neurological Sciences, The London Hospital, London E1 1BB
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Extract

The sedative effects of single doses of hypnotic drugs in normals are still detectable on behavioural tests 13 hours after administration, and on the electroencephalogram (EEG) at 18 hours (Malpas et al., 1970), and similar results have been noted by other workers (Lader and Walters, 1971). Using measures of driving skill, Betts et al. (1972) have also found that normal subjects may be impaired after five doses of amylobarbitone sodium taken over the preceding 36 hours. However, the relevance of all these results to the prediction of effects in patients for whom the drugs are prescribed is uncertain, as our preliminary report indicated (Legg et al., 1973). Here we present the more detailed results of a study carried out on anxious out-patients, using behavioural and EEG measures to determine whether or not persistent effects were present following a course of 7 days treatment with hypnotic drugs.

Type
Research Article
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 124 , Issue 582 , May 1974 , pp. 482 - 484
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1974 

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References

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