CONTINUOUS SLEEP TREATMENT
Observations on the Use of Prolonged, Deep, Continuous Narcosis in Mental Disorders
JOHN S. CLAPP M. D.1, and
EARL A. LOOMIS JR. M. D.1
1 The Western State Psychiatric Institute and Clinic and the Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pa.
Experience with 70 applications of prolonged narcosis in psychotic and psychoneurotic disorders is presented. One fatality occurred in the series as a result of pulmonary emboli.
Special attention was given to the study of bronchopneumonia, an outstanding complication of prolonged narcosis therapy, and a suggested technique is presented that effectively reduces this and other hazards.
Psychotic excitements, both manic and schizophrenic, respond to narcosis therapy.
Of 7 cases of dementia præcox less than one year in duration, 6 responded well to treatment.
Experience with psychoneurotic patients is not sufficient to warrant conclusions; therapeutic results, however, were sufficient to suggest the possibility that this procedure might be of value in various psychoneuroses, particularly severe anxiety states with prominent phobic features.
The outstanding disadvantage of narcosis is the necessity of constant nursing attention during treatment.
