Am J Psychiatry 1976; 133:948-952
Copyright © 1976 by American Psychiatric Association
The concept of drug automatism
MI Good
The drug-automatism hypothesis implies a medication-induced absence of
intentionality for self-poisoning and a relative amnesia for serial or
single overdosage. Controversy stems from problems encountered in the
formulation and verfication of the hypothesis. The author reviews the
literature, presents a case associated with a proprietary sleeping
preparation, and discusses psychopharmacological and psychophysiological
elements in the mechanism of drug automatism and its differential
diagnosis.
