The effects of psychoactive drugs and neuroleptics on language in normal subjects and schizophrenic patients: a review
European Psychiatry December 1, 2000 F. Salomé, P Boyer, Michel Fayol 21 citations
A review of eighteen studies on psychoactive drugs and neuroleptics (NL) shows that in healthy subjects, alcohol, amphetamine, and secobarbital increase language production, d-amphetamine makes speech more complex, L-dopa focuses it, psilocybin makes it unfocused, and ketamine clearly impairs it. No studies examine neuroleptic effects on language in healthy people. In schizophrenic patients, conventional neuroleptics at therapeutic doses reduce language disorders clinically, linguistically, and psycholinguistically. When combined with other molecules, moderate chronic NL plus amphetamine improves verbal flow and reduces pauses and positive thought disorder, while NL plus fenfluramine impairs language measurements.