William A. Frosch

In vivo and in vitro chromosomal damage induced by LSD-25.

THE induction of chromosomal aberrations by exogenous agents, such as viruses, radiation and chemicals, is an area of active cytogenetic investigation.1 Recently, the psychotomimetic hallucinogen, ...

On the preferential abuse of heroin and amphetamine.

Although most drug abusers have experienced a variety of psychotropic agents, many abusers experience a prolonged and distinct preference for a particular drug. To examine the relationship between drug preference and personality, preferential abusers of heroin and amphetamine were interviewed while abstinent. Qualitative analysis of the data suggests a distinct relationship between personality style and drug preference in this sample. The drug of choice appears to be syntonic with the abusers characteristic modes of adaptation. Whereas the heroin addict reduces anxiety via repression and withdrawal, the amphetamine abuser utilizes a variety of compensatory maneuvers to maintain a posture of active confrontation with the environment. The heroin abusers low self-esteem and personalized style are in sharp contrast to the narcissistic self-inflation and abstract communication of the amphetamine abuser. The specific drug effects of “satiation” (heroin) and “activation” (amphetamine) temporarily aid in the reduction of anxiety by bolstering characteristic modes of defensive functioning. The origins of preferential drug abuse may be such drug-induced altered ego states. These may recapture a series of similar experiences, the originals of which appear to lie in specific phases of child development. A particular drug may thus facilitate a specific regressive solution to conflict and may, therefore, be preferentially chosen. Thus, in addition to the pressures of physiological dependency and social setting, drug abuse appears also to be determined by the convergence of pharmacological effect and premorbid patterns of coping with anxiety. A complete understanding of drug use will require clarification of both the similarities and differences found between preferential users of different drugs.

Motivation for self-administration of LSD

SummaryThe reason for self-administration of LSD and the resulting subjective changes in 34 patients hospitalized following ingestion of LSD were studied. Only two patients were primarily interested in its reputed beneficial effects. Although 13 patients reported such effects, the authors were unable to document any objective improvement. Seven patients reported that they felt worse after LSD and experienced increased anxiety or depression. Fourteen reported no change.

A multidisciplinary geriatric unit for the psychiatrically impaired in Bellevue Hospital Center.

A 1968 ruling by the N.Y. State Department of Mental Hygiene refusing admission to nonpsychotic persons 65 and over, traditionally given custodial care by the state mental hospitals, left the communities, cities, and towns without resources to handle the problem. The ruling was implemented prior to any planning or funding for alternative facilities. The article describes a multidisciplmary Geriatric Unit established at Bellevue Hospital Center (Psychiatric Division) which together with available community resources, has maintained some of the mentally frail elderly in the community. Emphasis is given to the multidisciplinary character of the Geriatric Unit and to the need for similar in-hospital, mobile, and on-site as well as community-out-reach program teams to cope with the multiple health problems of the elderly indigent population in large cities. Additional types of services and facilities which are needed are discussed.

A Comparison of Psychiatric and Psychological Assessments of Acute Schizophrenics

Psychiatric and psychological ratings of psycho pathology were compared by means of canonical correlation of scores on the Inpatient Multidimen sional Psychiatric Scale (IMPS) syndromes with scores on the 10 subtests of the Structured Clinical Interview (SCI). The ratings by a team of psycholo gists on the SCI and by a team of psychiatrists on the IMPS were made simultaneously, while one of the psychologists conducted the structured interview of the SCI. In this way, 72 acute schizophrenics were rated shortly after admission to a psychiatric hospital; 58 of them were re-rated approximately one month later in a replication of the original procedure. Two canonical analyses were carried out: one on the initial ratings, the second on the replication. Canonical correlations of .84 and .86 were obtained respectively for the first latent roots at each occasion. Successive significant roots yielded correlations of .78 and .68 on the initial rat ings and .76, .69, and .64 on the follow-up ratings. After all 10 latent roots had been extracted for each occasion of rating, redundancy coefficients were calculated for each instrument. The results showed that for the initial ratings 30% of each in struments variance could be explained by the other instrument; at the follow-up ratings the redun ancies were 40% for both sets of variables. The data are interpreted as evidence for the congruent validity of the SCI.

The Abuse of Psychotomimetic Drugs

“Clearly, there are periods extensively characterized by anxiety-periods in which the consciousness of many people, and even more so their subconsciousness, is haunted in varying degree by fear and worry, by loneliness and apathy, and by frustration, resentment, and aggression. These are periods in which many see themselves as aliens and exiles trapped in a world from which they want more than anything else to escape, either by destroying the old order and actually creating a new and better world, or by withdrawing into a compensatory inner or transcendental world” (Rosen, 1967)“While scientists may debate the appropriate use of hallucinogens, history records our unceasing urge to cope with dreary reality or dread with the aid of magic, drugs, drama, festival rites, and (with biological regularity) through dreams. The need to transcend limits also finds a voice in Utopian ideologies-be they of the inner world, of this, or the next; the promise of omnipotent mastery is always either implicit or readily inf...