Failure of Dextroamphetamine Sulfate to Influence Eating and Sleeping Patterns in Obese Schizophrenic Patients

Abstract

Data have been accumulated which indicate that in the obese schizophrenic population, dextroamphetamine sulfate (Dexadrine) has little or no effect on eating or sleeping patterns. In contrast to findings in a large literature on the nonschizophrenic obese patient, the obese schizophrenic population differs from them in these parameters of pharmacological effect. The failure of dextroamphetamine to influence either appetite or sleep in a schizophrenic population is put forward as negative evidence in support of an earlier postulation that these two effects of the anorectic amphetamine congeners are probably inseparable because they are the result of the same pharmacological action, and in support of the view that amphetamine congeners useful in the treatment of obesity will tend to cause insomnia and all the other undesirable effects attributable to central stimulation in proportion to their anorectic potency.