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December 1943

USE OF INSULIN AS SEDATION THERAPY: CONTROL OF BASIC ANXIETY IN THE PSYCHOSES

Author Affiliations

NEW YORK

From the New York Hospital, and the Department of Psychiatry, Cornell University Medical College.

Arch NeurPsych. 1943;50(6):697-705. doi:10.1001/archneurpsyc.1943.02290240081008
Abstract

The use of insulin for the production of coma in the therapy of the psychoses has not fulfilled the expectations of a few years ago. A careful review of the literature1 leaves no doubt that it has a definite place in the proper hands and in the management of the total problem. Most observers agree that its greatest advantage lies in the treatment of schizophrenia. Electric shock seems likely to replace insulin in treatment of all the affective conditions because of its better results and easier technic.

The effectiveness of insulin in subcoma doses has received little attention. In this paper are described the results obtained in treatment of various psychopathologic conditions with a technic which stops short of the production of coma. Twenty-eight patients have thus far received this modified type of insulin therapy, with the production of somnolence and clouded consciousness, the treatment stopping just short of

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