EXPERIMENTAL PSYCHOTIC STATES

Abstract

The use of drugs such as mescaline and lysergic acid diethylamide for the experimental production of temporary psychotic states continues to offer unique opportunities for further research. The discovery that a metabolite of adrenaline induces an experimental psychosis suggests the possibility that an error in adrenaline metabolism may be an etiological factor in some naturally occurring psychoses. Experimental psychoses, however, are not identical in form with any naturally occurring ones although there is resemblance to delirium and, to a lesser extent, to schizophrenia. Lysergic acid does not possess therapeutic value sufficient to justify its use in psychiatric practice other than on an experimental basis. As a means of releasing repressed material, it is less effective than intravenous sodium amytal. Self-administration of an hallucinogen by the psychiatrist permits subjective experience of psychotic symptoms.