Diagnosis and Treatment of Drug Dependence of the Barbiturate Type
ABRAHAM WIKLER M.D.1
1 Professor of psychiatry and pharmacology, department of psychiatry, University of Kentucky College of Medicine and University Hospital, Lexington, Ky. 40506
The basic principles in treatment of patients suspected of, or known to be, physically dependent on barbiturates, nonbarbiturate sedatives, and/or "minor tranquilizers" are: stabilization on pentobarbital in daily amounts and frequency of dosage sufficient to completely suppress barbiturate-type abstinence phenomena and produce minimal signs of barbiturate intoxication; and progressive reduction of pentobarbital dosage at the rate of not more than 100 mg. a day after three to five days of stabilization.
