PSYCHODYSLEPTIC DRUGS. II. SOME PROBLEMS RELATED TO THEIR USE

Abstract In the first part of this paper, a classification was proposed which divided dysleptic drugs into two categories. Further evidence in support of this classification is drawn from the variability of the clinical picture in schizophrenics elicited by mescaline or allied substances, whereas dysleptics with potent anticholinergic properties always induce the same symptomatology. If the therapeutic usefulness of LSD-25 for instance still may be argued, dysleptics belonging to the second group seem to have no therapeutic usefulness. The dysleptics of the first group include in their chemical formula an aromatic or an indole nucleus; the second group is characterized by a phenylglycolate group. The classification proposed here may be compared with Henri Ey's ideas: in this Jacksonian perspective, dysleptics like LSD would impair the superior strata of the psycho-organic structure whereas Ditran (in the second group) would act at a lower level.