Phencyclidine: The Dawn Of A New Age Essay

PCP is a hallucinogenic drug with anesthetic properties. PCP is known as a dissociative anesthetic because users seem to be disconnected. It distorts both sight and sound and also creates or provides a feeling of detachment. Rather than visual hallucinations, PCP cause a distortion of reality. First synthesized in 1926, PCP was developed by Parke, Davis and Company under the trade name Sernyl for use as a general anesthetic for humans in the 1950's, and subsequently was used in veterinary medicine as a tranquilizer. By 1965, use with humans was discontinued as clinical studies revealed that patients experienced delusions, severe anxiety and agitation when emerging from the drug's effects. In the United States an illicit trade of PCP sprang

“Hallucinations and voices that caused schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders have been stopped with the use of new medications”. (MHT, 2) “Just as aspirin can reduce a fever without curing the infection that causes it, psychotherapeutic medications act by controlling symptoms,” (MFMI, 4). “Another advantage of these medications is an increased understanding of the causes of mental illness. Scientists investigate the results of the medications, and through these results, they have learned a great deal about the working of the brain system.” (MFMI, 4) The use of new drugs has made it possible for mentally ill persons to live a normal life.

Phencyclidine, or PCP, was synthesized in 1926 and used in the 1950s to act as a surgical anesthetic. However, it was retired in 1960s due to significant side effects including delusion, emotional trauma and acutely irrational behavior. It now sees illegal use as an extremely potent and dangerous hallucinogenic drug. It is generally ingested either orally or through the nose and its sedative effects take hold extremely quickly. PCP takes the form of a white, readily soluble powder crystalline in nature. It has It has been classified as being a hallucinogen, dissociative anesthetic, psychotomimetic, and sedative-hypnotic.

In Part Three, which covers 1950-1990’s, Whitaker describes the propensity in the U.S.A. to diagnose patients with schizophrenia. This fed into the rise in popularity of the drug chlorpromazine, originally used for the treatment of psychosis, was lauded as an antischizophrenic medication. Chlorpromazine and other neuroleptics

The 1950s saw several developments in medications such as antipsychotics. The term antipsychotic refers to medicines or drugs that are primarily needed to manage psychosis. They are usually used to treat schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, though they can be helpful for other mental health problems such as severe depression. In One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, a patient called Chief Bromden, describes his surroundings after taking medication. He said, “The words come to me like water, it’s so thick. In fact it’s so much like water it floats me right up out of my chair and I don’t know which end is up for a while. Floating makes me a little sick to the stomach at first. I can’t see a thing. I never had it so thick it floated me like this.” (Kesey 133) The quote gives an accuate picure of how an antipsychotic would work. Chlorpromazine, the first anitpsychotic, was synthesized in 1950 by the French pharmacuetical company Rhône-Poulenc. It was followed by the creation of many other drugs with diverse chemical structures. In 1954, another

In 1955, antipsychotic medications were introduced to help mental disorders. These medications are usually taken orally in which help relieve symptoms for periods of days. The misuse or abuse of the medications are low. There are three generations of antipsychotic medications. The first generation is known for reducing hallucinations and delusions, but not affecting problems like disorientation or depression. An example would be chlorpromazine, brand name being Thorazine. Some negative side effects of taking the first generation drugs are Parkinson’s-like symptoms, tardive dyskinesia, and weight gain. Next, the second generation drugs minimized the outcome of the individual getting Parkinson’s-like symptoms. An example of this generation would be Clozaril. “A unique feature of Clozaril is the 1 to 2 percent chance of developing a potentially lethal blood disease called agranulocytosis” (Levinthal 282). This disease decreases white blood cells and affects the immune system. If early signs of this disease start to appear the patient will stop taking Clozaril and recover. Lastly, the third generation has shown to be the most effective on schizophrenia. Abilify is an example of this generation drug. It does not have a risk of Parkinson’s, tardive dyskinesia, or diabetes. Abilify blocks specific serotonin receptors in which prevents negative side effects from happening. These different

Ketamine has been tested in treatment-resistant bipolar disorder, major depressive disorder, and people in a suicidal crisis in emergency rooms. Benefit is often of a short duration. The quality of the evidence supporting benefit is generally

Antipsychotic medication, block dopamine and serotonin transmission in the brain. Clozaril, resperdal, zyprera, and seroquel are four newer antipsychotic medications. The symptom is alleviated with older antipsychotic medication. These are divided into groups depending on their potency. If a drug has a low potency, more of it is needed to relieve the symptom. Medium potency is only affective if medium dose is taken. High potency drug can be taken with smaller amount to be effective. Note that the antipsychotic drug, only reduces the psychotic symptoms of schizophrenia and usually allow the patient to function more effectively and appropriately. Most patients don’t need the drug. Even though the drug can’t elminate the disease. It can help the patient determine the difference between psychotic episodes from the real world. With continued drug treatment, about forty percent of recovered patient will suffer relapses within two years.

Currently, the main drugs used to treat schizophrenia include clozapine, risperidone and haloperidol. It is still debatable which class, as stated above, whether typical or atypical antipsychotics are better and produce relatively safer side-effects among

As with any disorder or sickness patients have various treatment options available to them. It’s always in the best interest of the patient to seek treatment advice from a Mental healthcare professional who has experience on schizophrenia disorder, and who can server the patient effectively. Patients who have been diagnosed with schizophrenia should look into all options available to them before choosing one treatment option in order to experience the best pathway back to a healthy life. Some of the more popular treatment options to help relive symptoms of schizophrenia have been either antipsychotic medications such as Chlorpromazine, haloperidol (haldol), perphenazine (Etafon, Trilafon), and Fluphenazine. Although medications are more common and been around for centuries other treatment options can also provide a more long-term treatment plan with positive outcomes. According to the NIMH antipsychotic medications have been around since the mid 1950’s (2014).

In 1959, Phencyclidine was an anesthetic for humans, but was discontinued as it provided serious side effects. Some of these side effects include confusion, hallucinations, delirium, and violence. Some forms of long-term memory disorders and schizophrenia have also been evident. When it is used on the streets as ‘angel dust’, it can be the cause of seizures, convulsions, cardiac problems, and even comas.

One tool that doctors have recommended to schizophrenic patients for many years is antipsychotic medications. While this form of treatment has proven to be somewhat effective for some patients, the side effects can be unpredictable. They can range from shortness of breath and weariness to loss of muscle control and tremors. The National Institute of Mental Health recognized this issue and conducted a survey with about 400 schizophrenic patients to determine if there were any other forms of treatment that could be more effective than medication. They split participants into two groups with one being the normal medication-focused treatment and the other being a therapy and family-focused care. The researchers kept the medications on group two as low as possible, and found that this did not negatively affect the patients. The participants in group two actually made greater leaps in recovery in comparison to group one. This was all due to the fact that group two people were given the tools to cope with and address their issues instead of just masking them with medication.

However, as highlighted by Videbeck et al (2014), the therapeutic mechanism of action is only partially understood. Typical antipsychotic drugs such as chlorpromazine, haloperidol, act as antagonist at dopamine receptors (D2, D3, D4), which are situated in central pathways of the brain. Brennan & Gamble (2006), highlighted reports supporting the clinical potency of typical antipsychotics which is determined by the extent to which they block dopamine receptors. This action of blocking D2 receptors lead to effective treatment of target symptoms of schizophrenia but induces many extrapyramidal symptoms (EPS) such as Parkinson, acute dystonic reactions, akathisia, tardive dyskinesia and worsen negative symptoms in some patients. In as much as blocking the dopamine receptor is acknowledged explanation of the EPS of typical antipsychotic drugs, some controversy exists in relation to extension of the mechanism to explain the antipsychotic effect. The core controversy is based on the inability to link the relationship between EPS and therapeutic effects. Some typical antipsychotic drugs have shown fewer parkinsonian effects than would have been expected from their clinical efficacy and explanation to this is that such drugs have in built antiparkinsonian as they have high anticholinergic potency. According to Crow (1980), considering this explanation makes the relationship between dopamine antagonism and the therapeutic effectiveness more compelling. Brennan & Gamble (2006), cited Gournay & Gray (1998), highlighting that about 30% of clients with schizophrenia do not respond to typical antipsychotics or experience severe EPS, this means that the rest 70% respond to typical antipsychotic drugs and may experience

The first major development in the treatment of psychosis was first generation antipsychotics, which is known as typical antipsychotics (Guzman & Farinde, 2015). In essence, these medications are used to treat schizophrenia and other associated psychotic disorders. In additions, some of the medications of the first generation include Haldol, loxitane, orap, mellaril, navane, and trilafon to name a few. Furthermore, these antipsychotics are considered cheaper than the second-generation antipsychotics, which make them valuable when treating psychotic disorders. Lieberman, Stroup, MsEvoy, Swartz, Rosenheck, Perkins, and Hsiao (2005) describe the first generation as the best treatment for psychotic symptoms, because the dopamine receptors elevate similarity in antagonists.

This source is valuable to my research because, it provides the reader with historic, information about the initial uses of anesthesia in the mid-19th century.