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NORRIS HANSELL, MD
Champaign, Ill

JAMA. 1975;234(12):1220.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text PDF and any section headings.

To the Editor.—

Amphetamine psychosis has long been known to mimic schizophrenia.^1,2 Some experiences in my practice suggest that limited, continuing use of amphetamine and related substances may exert a deregulating effect on chronic schizophrenia. In particular, it appears that several sympathomimetic materials can yield subtle or dramatic exacerbations in the course of schizophrenia, the origin of which may not be visible without precise inquiry. Of a group of 575 schizophrenics under my care, and all on phenothiazine therapy, 26 are thought to have shown such exacerbations, which abated on stopping simultaneously taking a sympathomimetic material. This number is likely an understatement, because many of the events were not recognized because of our only recent appreciation of this matter. It is not mainly sympathomimetics prescribed by physicians that constitute the bulk of this problem; it is the presence of these materials in over-the-counter pharmaceuticals, particularly in diet pills and . . . [Full Text PDF of this Article]

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