Use of Chlorpromazine in the Withdrawal of Addicting Drugs

Abstract

THE abrupt withdrawal of addicting drugs gives rise to well defined symptoms, including restlessness, nausea, emesis, insomnia and perspiration. Many of these effects, as Himmelsbach1 has pointed out, are manifestations of disturbances that are autonomic in origin. His findings and those of others2 3 4 indicate that the use of opiates, by upsetting homeostatic equilibrium, calls into play autonomic compensatory action, which then becomes a hyper-reaction requiring these drugs to preserve the quasi equilibrium. Consequently, withholding opiates from addicts temporarily produces an autonomic imbalance that results in the manifestations of the abstinence syndrome.Investigators5 , 6 in Europe have reported that a new phenothiazine . . .