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DRUG

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Originally appearing in Volume V14, Page 610 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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DRUG See also:

INTOxICATION.—The true role of alcoholic See also:indulgence in the See also:production of See also:insanity is at See also:present very imperfectly sanity. Innsan understood. In many cases the alcoholism is merely a symptom of the See also:mental disease—a result, not a cause. In others, See also:alcohol seems to See also:act purely as a predisposing See also:factor, breaking down the resistance of the patient and disordering the See also:metabolism to such an extent that bodily disorders are engendered which produce well-marked and easily recognized mental symptoms. In others, again, alcohol itself may possibly act as a See also:direct toxin. disordering the functions of the See also:brain. In the latter class may be included the See also:nervous phenomena of See also:drunkenness, which commence with excitement and confusion of ideas, and terminate in stupor with partial See also:paralysis of all the muscles. Certain brains which, either through innate weakness or as the result of direct injury, have become peculiarly liable the toxic influences, under the See also:influence of even moderate quantities of alcohol pass into a See also:state closely resembling delirious See also:mania, a state commonly spoken of as mania a polu. See also:Delirium Tremens.—Delirium tremens is the See also:form of mental disorder most commonly associated with alcoholic indulgence in the See also:lay mind. Considerable doubt exists, however, as to „hethcr the disease is directly or secondarily the result of \I J. 20alcoholic poisoning. Much See also:evidence exists in favour of the latter supposition. Delirium tremens may occur in persons who have never presented the symptom of drunkenness, or it may occur See also:weeks after the patient has ceased to drink alcohol, and in such cases the actual exciting cause of the disease may be some accidental complication, such as a severe See also:accident, a surgical operation, or an attack of See also:pneumonia or See also:erysipelas.

The See also:

early symptoms are always See also:physical. The See also:stomach is disordered. The See also:desire for See also:food is absent, and there may be abdominal See also:pain and vomiting. The hands are tremulous, and the patient is unable to See also:sleep. At this See also:stage the disease may be checked by the See also:administration of an aperient and some sedative such as bromide and See also:chloral. The mental symptoms vary greatly in their severity. In a mild See also:case one may talk to the patient for some See also:time before discovering any mental abnormality, and then it will be found that confusion exists regarding his position and the identity of those around him, while the memory is also impaired for See also:recent events. Hallucinations of sight and See also:hearing may be present. The hallucinations of sight may be readily induced by pressure upon the eyeballs. If the symptoms are more acute they usually come on suddenly, generally during the evening or See also:night. The patient becomes excited, suffers from vivid hallucinations of sight and hearing which produce See also:great fear, and these hallucinations may be so See also:engrossing as to render him quite oblivious to the environment. The hallucinations of sight are characterized by the false sense impressions taking the forms of animals or See also:insects which surround or menace the patient.

Visions may also appear in the form of flames, goblins or fairies. The hallucinations of hearing rarely consist of voices, but are more of the nature of whistlings, and ringings in the ears, shouts, groans or screams which seem to fill the See also:

air, or emanate from the walls or floors of the See also:room. All the See also:special senses may be affected, but sight and hearing are always implicated. Delirium tremens is a See also:short-lived• disease, generally See also:running its course in from four to five days. Recovery is always preceded by the return of the See also:power of sleep. The patient must be carefully nursed and constantly watched, as homicidal and suicidal impulses arc liable to occur under the terrifying influence of the hallucinations. The food should be concentrated and fluid, given frequently and in small quantities. Chronic Alcoholic Insanity.—Almost any mental disorder may be associated with chronic alcoholism, but the most characteristic mental symptoms are delusions of suspicion and persecution which resemble very closely those of the persecution stage of systematized delusional insanity. The See also:appearance of the patient is bloated and heavy; the See also:tongue is furred and tremulous, and symptoms of gastric and intestinal disorder are usually present. The gait is awkward and dragging, owing to the partial paralysis of the extensor muscles of the See also:lower limbs. All the skeletal muscles are tremulous, particularly those of the tongue, lips and hands. The See also:common sensibility of the skin is disordered so that the patient complains of sensory disturbances, such as tinglings and prickings of the skin, which may be interpreted as electric shocks.

In some cases the mental symptoms may be concealed, but delusions and hallucinations, particularly hallucinations of sight and hearing, are very commonly present. The delusions are often directly the outcome of the physical state; the disordered stomach suggesting poisoning, and the disturbances of the special senses being interpreted as various forms of persecution. The patient hears voices shouting foul abuse at him; all his thoughts are read and repeated aloud; electric shocks are sent through him at night; gases are pumped into his room. Sexual delusions are very common and frequently affect marital relations by arousing suspicions regarding the fidelity of wife or See also:

husband; or the delusions may be more See also:gross and take the form of belief in actual attempts at sexual mutilations. The memory is always impaired. Patients who in addition to chronic alcoholism are also insane are always dangerous and liable to sudden and apparently causeless outbursts of violence. See also:Dipsomania.—Dipsomania is a See also:condition characterized by recurrent or periodic attacks of an irresistible craving fen-1i stimulants. The See also:general bodily condition has a great See also:deal to do with the onset of the attack, that is to say, the patient is more liable to an attack when the bodily condition is See also:low than when the See also:health is See also:good. The attacks may be frequent or recur at very See also:long intervals. They generally last for a few weeks, and may be complicated by symptoms of excitement, delusions or hallucinations. Treatment consists in See also:attention to the general health between attacks, with the use of such tonics as See also:arsenic and See also:strychnine. During the attack the patient should be confined to See also:bed and treated with sedatives.

~liorphinism.-The morphia See also:

habit is most commonly contracted by persons of a neurotic constitution. The mental symptoms associated with the disease may arise either as the result of an overdose, when the patient suffers from hallucinations, confusion and mild delirium, frequently associated with vomiting. On the other See also:hand, mental symptoms very similar to those of delirium tremens may occur as the result of suddenly cutting off the See also:supply of morphia in a patient addicted to the habit. Finally, chronic morphia intoxication produces mental symptons very similar to those of chronic alcoholism. This latter condition, characterized by delusions of persecution, mental enfeeblement and loss of memory, is hopelessly incurable. The patient is always thin and anaemic on See also:account of See also:digestive disturbances. There is weakness or slight paralysis of the lower limbs, and the skeletal muscles are tremulous. Treatment.-The quantity of the drug used must be gradually reduced until it is finally discontinued, and during treatment the patient must be confined to bed.

End of Article: DRUG

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