Cortisone Habituation — A Clinical Note

Abstract

THE sense of well-being produced by ACTH, cortisone and related steroids raises the question whether emotionally insecure persons may become dependent on these drugs for psychologic reasons. Hollender† reports on a patient who, because of a tense depression, was tempted to depend on cortisone. There is little other mention of psychic dependency on these drugs in the literature, and I could find no reports of addiction. That extreme psychic dependency on such agents may develop in emotionally insecure persons is demonstrated by the following 3 cases:Case 1. The patient had been treated for 6 years with steroids for asthma. . . .