Narcotherapy in the treatment of post-traumatic stress disorders: a report of two cases.

The history of narcotherapy is outlined and reasons are given for its current obsolescence. A modified procedure and two cases in which it has been employed successfully are described. The rationale of narcotherapy and its application to the treatment of post-traumatic stress disorders are discussed and elucidated.

The sodium pentothal hypnosis interview with follow-up treatment for complex regional pain syndrome.

A patient who was unresponsive to multiple conservative medical treatments for complex regional pain syndrome was assessed using a novel approach--the sodium pentothal hypnosis interview. The interview suggested that his pain was centrally generated. The patient's pain symptoms resolved with hypnotherapeutic treatment. Indications for this procedure and implications for assessment and treatment are discussed. This case raises more questions than it answers, and leaves the reader to struggle with current difficulties in diagnostic decision-making.

[Narcosis under barbiturates: mutism]. / La narcose sous barbiturique: mutisme.

The authors review the history and current uses of the amytal interview. This technique was quite popular over 50 years ago when it began, but has been ignored for the past ten years. A clinical case of mutism is described in this research to illustrate the usefulness of the amytal interview. In this particular case, the narcosis has permitted the uncovering of delusions and consequently the administration of the appropriate treatment.

[Questionnaire studies of the effectiveness of atropine coma in patients treated at the I Clinic for Mental Diseases, Medical Academy, in Gdansk 1979-1987]. / Badania ankietowe nad skutecznoscia spiaczek atropinowych u chorych leczonych w I Klinice Chorób Psychicznych AMG w latach 1979-87.

The questionnaire follow-up study of 86 patients treated with atropine comas in the Ist Clinic of Psychiatry, Medical Academy in Gdansk was carried out. 47 patients (62%) responded to the questionnaire. The atropine coma was estimated as the best tolerated method of treatment by 33 responders. The study confirm therapeutic efficiency of atropine coma in obsessive-compulsive neurosis and anancastic syndrome.

Rapid psychotherapeutic effects of anesthesia with isoflurane (ES narcotherapy) in treatment-refractory depressed patients.

Treatment-refractory depressed patients who objected to electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) were given a series of anesthesias with isoflurane (Forane), a modern and established inhalation anesthetic. According to our hypothesis to be tested, the brief period of electrocerebral silence (ES), which can be observed shortly after the grand mal seizure in ECT, may be in itself a crucial biological determinant for the therapeutic effects of ECT. Isoflurane is the only drug known to effect an ES in the EEG in nontoxic concentrations, which does not result in adverse effects on any body organ including the brain; no seizure activity can be observed. Eleven depressed patients received a total of 36 anesthesias with isoflurane (ES narcotherapy). Rapid antidepressant effects were observed in 9 patients (p less than 0.0001). Effects were reproducible and lasted up to several weeks. No adverse effects of anesthesia were noticed.

[Narcoanalysis, "la belle au bois dormant" (author's transl)]. / La narco-analyse, la belle au bois dormant.

Narcoanalysis, used as a diagnostic tool, seems to permit a more rapid and deeper psychological examination. Therapeutically, it seems to enhance results, without having more specific effects than other forms of psychotherapy in any neuropsychiatric condition. The mechanisms of action of narcoanalysis remain unclear: maybe it frees repression or other mechanisms may have a role. The authors wish to study what happens to the ego functions during narcoanalysis. They wish also to learn how affective inhibition disappears and how traumatic events may be integrated in the ego.