EVALUATION OF THERAPEUTIC FACTORS IN PHARMACOLOGIC SHOCK
L. S. LIPSCHUTZ M. D.1,
R. W. CAVELL M. D.1,
R. LEISER M. D.1,
E. N. HINKO M. D.1, , and
S. H. RUSKIN M. D.1
1 Eloise Hospital, Eloise, Mich.
1. Seven of 20, or 35 per cent, of a group of chronic schizophrenic patients were benefited by insulin to the point of social recovery or marked improvement, as compared with a 20 per cent spontaneous remission rate in a control group of 30 patients.
2. Coma was found to be essential for the production of improvement, its effectiveness being increased when combined with intensive resocialization activities.
3. Metrazol was only one-half as effective as insulin in chronic schizophrenia, but justified its use because of its greater ease of administration and lesser cost. In chronically disturbed patients its use frequently resulted in moderate degrees of improvement resulting in better ward adjustment.
4. Paranoid schizophrenia responded best to insulin; agitated catatonia to metrazol.
5. Neither the age of the patient nor the degree of hereditary taint could be correlated with the therapeutic responses.
6. In involutional melancholia and manic-depressive psychosis, depressed phase, metrazol treatment appeared to constitute a direct attack upon the specific psychopathology of the disease. A theoretic formulation to explain this action was offered.
7. The relatively long duration of schizophrenia in first admissions to the Eloise Hospital was noted and the need for earlier recognition and more prompt admission stressed, so as to enhance our therapeutic effectiveness.
