Max Pollack

Comparative studies of chlorpromazine and imipramine

SummaryThe effect of the chronic administration of chlorpromazine and imipramine on critical flicker fusion (CFF) in a group of cooperative, voluntarily hospitalized psychiatric patients was investigated in a doubleblind, fixed-dosage, placebo-controlled study. When retested after five weeks while receiving 1200 mg daily of chlorpromazine (with procyclidine added) or 300 mg daily of imipramine, the chlorpromazine treated group showed a significant decrement in CFF threshold when compared with either the placebo or imipramine group; with imipramine there was a non-significant decline in CFF as compared with placebo.Both drugs increased group variance as compared with placebo. The increased variability was significantly related to age.The drug induced-changes were discussed with reference to the importance of individual differences.

Effects of psychotropic drugs on long-term adjustment

SummaryThe long-term effects of psychotropic agents are reviewed. Major studies are summarized with attention focused on samples studied, criteria of outcome (i.e., rehospitalization, symptoms, vocational adjustment), and findings regarding the role of social and biographical variables on long-term adjustment within the context of chemotherapy.There is evidence that chlorpromazine has reduced the rate of relapse among schizophrenics; however, more precise knowledge as to the specific long-range effects of chemotherapy is still lacking. Investigators hold widely differing views on the role of drug therapy in long-term adjustment; the contradictions observed in the literature stem from results derived from generally faulty research designs. The limitations of design consistently encountered in these studies are noted. Means of resolving them are discussed with reference to a few welldesigned studies.

Disordered Perception of Simultaneous Stimulation of Face and Hand: A Review and Theory

Since its reintroduction by Morris B. Bender during World War II, the method of double simultaneous stimulation has attracted wide attention in neurology and psychiatry. This paper is concerned with one facet of the many studies in this area, namely, the perception of simultaneous tactile stimulation of the face and hand—the face-hand test. In a series of studies, Bender and his associates Fink, Green, and Jaffe [1–11] have shown this task to have clinical value as a measure of cerebral function, with applications in studies of brain damage, mental age, and altered states of consciousness.

The EEG qualities in a group of young adult hospitalized psychiatric patients.

The EEG qualities of individuals with “nonorganic” psychological disturbances have long been subjects for discussion. Not in psychology, psychopathology, nor electroencephalography has there been sufficient definition of terms to make agreement possible in the past, although the evidence of abnormality or immaturity in the electroencephalograms of children with behavior disorders is known to be relatively high.