Am J Psychiatry 1987; 144:1317-1319
Copyright © 1987 by American Psychiatric Association
A laboratory procedure for the induction of flashbacks
JM Rainey Jr, A Aleem, A Ortiz, V Yeragani, R Pohl and R Berchou
Department of Psychiatry, Wayne State University School of Medicine, Detroit, MI.
The authors administered infusions of lactate intravenously to seven
patients with a DSM-III diagnosis of posttraumatic stress disorder, six of
whom also met DSM-III criteria for panic disorder. The lactate infusions
resulted in flashbacks in all seven patients and panic attacks in six
patients. The authors conclude that with further development intravenous
lactate infusion may be used to study flashbacks and other dissociative
phenomena and to determine the relationship between flashbacks and panic
anxiety.
