In 74 patients with acute organic psychosis, a distinctive pattern of delusions, perceptual disturbance, and thought disorder emerged that was markedly different from the pattern in 74 acute schizophrenics. The findings challenge theories that equate schizophrenia with an organic psychosis, suggesting that the psychopathology of acute organic psychosis arises from fundamentally different origins than that of schizophrenia.
In a phase 3 trial across seven mood disorders centers in Australia and New Zealand, subcutaneous racemic ketamine was tested against midazolam for treatment-resistant depression. With flexible dosing (0.5–0.9 mg/kg), ketamine led to a 19.6% remission rate compared to 2.0% for midazolam, a significant difference. Fixed dosing (0.5 mg/kg) showed no difference. Acute side effects, such as psychotomimetic effects and blood pressure increases, resolved within two hours. The subcutaneous route proved practical and feasible.
LSD was used at Powick Hospital from 1952, but its dramatic psychic effects—hallucinations and sensory hyperacuity—proved therapeutically unimportant. The drug's main value was its ability to bring repressed childhood traumas into consciousness, such as parental rejection, hostility, sexual assaults, and the loneliness and fear caused by inhalant anaesthetics in a hospital setting. These memories were recovered and abreacted with great emotional release. LSD was uniquely effective at retrieving deeply repressed material; small doses could yield in one or two sessions what would otherwise require months of analysis.