Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t7czq Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-01T04:37:45.072Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Comparison of Amphetamine Psychosis and Schizophrenia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2018

D. S. Bell
D. S. Bell*
Affiliation:
Psychiatric Research Unit, Callan Park Hospital, Sydney, Australia
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

Amphetamine psychosis arising during the course of long-continued amphetamine addiction resembles paranoid schizophrenia (Connell, 1958). Gradually the euphoriant effects of the drug are modified by anxiety accompanying ideas of reference and paranoid delusions. Auditory and visual hallucinations occur in a setting of clear consciousness and correct orientation. Restlessness, agitation and excitement are common accompaniments. An identical end-result has been reported in those cases that resulted from a single large dose of amphetamine or ingestion of the drug over a short period only (Wallis, McHarg and Scott, 1949; Herman and Nagler, 1954; Carr, 1954; Greenwood and Peachey, 1957; Connell, 1958). Accidental poisoning with amphetamine in childhood has been reported by Shanson (1956) and Patuck (1956) to result in hallucinations, hyperactivity, and a state of excitement and terror.

Type
Research Article
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 111 , Issue 477 , August 1965 , pp. 701 - 707
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

1. Askevold, F. (1959). “The occurrence of paranoid incidents and abstinence delirium in abusers of amphetamine.” Acta Psychiat. Neurol. Scand., 34, 145–164.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
2. Bartholomew, A. A., and Marley, E. (1959). “Toxic response to 2-phenyl-3-methyl tetrahydro-1, 4-oxazine hydrochloride (‘Preludin’) in humans.” Psychopharmacol., 1, 124–139.Google Scholar
3. Beamish, P., and Kiloh, L. G. (1960). “Psychoses due to amphetamine consumption.” J. ment. Sci., 106, 337–343.Google Scholar
4. Bell, D. S., and Trethowan, W. H. (1961). “Amphetamine addiction.” J. nerv. ment. Dis., 133, 489–496.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
5. Carr, R. B. (1954). “Acute psychotic reaction after inhaling methylamphetamine.” Brit. med. J., i, 1476.Google Scholar
6. Cohen, S. (1953). “The toxic psychoses and allied states.” Amer. J. Med., 15, 812–828.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
7. Connell, P. H. (1957). “Amphetamine in the urine of mental hospital patients.” J. Biochem., 65, 7.Google Scholar
8. Connell, P. H. (1958). Maudsley Monographs No. 5. Amphetamine Psychosis. London.Google Scholar
9. Fenichel, O. (1955). The Psychoanalytic Theory of Neuroses. London. pp. 375–380.Google Scholar
10. Freud, S. (1953). The Interpretation of Dreams. London.Google Scholar
11. Greenwood, R., and Peachey, R. S. (1957). “Acute amphetamine poisoning.” Brit. med. J., i, 742–744.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
12. Herman, M., and Naoler, S. H. (1954). “Psychoses due to amphetamine.” J. nerv. ment. Dis., 120, 268–272.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
13. Jackson, D. D. (1962). “LSD and the new beginning.” Ibid., 135, 435–439.Google Scholar
14. MacDonald, J. M., and Galvin, J. A. V. (1956). “Experimental psychotic states.” Amer. J. Psychiat., 112, 970–976.Google Scholar
15. Marley, E. (1960). “Response to some stimulant and depressant drugs of the central nervous system.” J. ment. Sci., 106, 76–92.Google Scholar
16. Mayer-Gross, W., Slater, E., and Roth, M. (1960). Clinical Psychiatry. London. p. 284.Google Scholar
17. McConnell, W. B. (1963). “Amphetamine substances in mental illness in Northern Ireland.” Brit. J. Psychiat., 109, 218–224.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
18. Patuck, D. (1956). “Acute dexamphetamine sulphate poisoning in a child.” Brit. med. J., i, 670–671.Google Scholar
19. Pollard, J. C., Barker, C., Uhr, L., and Feuerfile, D. F. (1960). “Controlled sensory input: a note on the technic of drug evaluation with a preliminary report on a comparative study of Sernyl, Psilocybin and LSD-25.” Comp. Psychiat., 1, 377–380.Google Scholar
20. Shanson, B. (1956). “Amphetamine poisoning.” Ibid., i, 576.Google Scholar
21. Slater, E. (1959). “Amphetamine psychosis.” Brit. med. J., i, 488.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
22. Wallis, G. G., McHarg, J. F., and Scott, O. C. A. (1949). “Acute psychosis caused by dextroamphetamine.” Ibid., ii, 1394.Google Scholar
23. Wolff, H. G., and Curran, D. (1935). “Nature of delirium and allied states.” Arch. Neurol. Psychiat., 33, 1175–1215.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
24. Young, D., and Scoville, W. B. (1938). “Paranoid psychosis in narcolepsy and the possible danger of Benzedrine treatment.” Med. Clin., North Amer., 22, 637–646.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
25. Young, G. G., Simson, C. B., and Frohman, C. E. (1961). “Clinical and biochemical studies of an amphetamine withdrawal psychosis.” J. nerv. ment. Dis., 132, 234–238.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.