PHRENOTROPIC DRUGS IN PSYCHOSOMATIC DISORDERS (SKIN)

Skin disorders and especially those with excessive itching have attracted great clinical and therapeutic interest in psychosomatic medicine. The trial of phrenotropic drugs in patients with pruritic tensional syndromes or in those with disfiguring chronic eruptions and depressive symptoms offered from the start attractive theoretical and therapeutic possibilities. It, furthermore, allowed the testing of the efficacy of these drugs in a visible and recordable situation. A good number of studies on the subject have been reported over the last six to eight years, but only few among them are controlled pharmacological trials (1-7). The results obtained in these studies vary greatly; this reflects on the difference of orientation in the observers as well as the great variability in the criteria and methods applied by the different investigators. The present study is a joint effort of three psychiatrists and one dermatologist. The purpose of the study was to investigate: 1) the effects of these drugs on the two components of the disease, i.e., disturbances of mood, behavior and thought; and cut#{227}neous changes and 2) the interrelation of these two separate groups of symptoms during the treatment process. A secondary objective was to develop clinical criteria for psychopharmacotherapy in dermatology with regard to selection of patients, dosage and duration of treatment.