Indole Excretion Patterns During Treatment with Reserpine

Abstract

Reserpine was first used extensively in psychiatric practice in the U.S.A. where many favourable reports on its use were published in 1954 and 1955. Subsequently a series of reports appeared in the U.K. These reports were more critical and sought to establish more precise indications for the use of the drug. It soon became apparent that the drug was of most value in schizophrenia and the organic hyperkinetic states. The value of reserpine in psychoneuroses is limited but that it is going to have a more than temporary place in the treatment of schizophrenia is suggested by the continued appearance of favourable reports. These last authors emphasize that not only is the drug an effective sedative but also that it does appear, in some places, to induce genuine remissions. The present difficulty is to predict which patients will respond in this way.