"PSYCHOTIC REACTION" TO TETRAETHYLTHIURAM DISULFIDE (ANTABUSE®) THERAPY

Abstract

The treatment and care of the chronic alcoholic has long been a social problem and, more recently, a medical problem. It is well recognized that psychiatric therapy offers the most for these unfortunates and that Alcoholics Anonymous presents a good layman's approach to group psychotherapy. From time to time, various modifications of the conditioned reflex, such as a dose of apomorphine, properly timed, preceding a "shot" of alcohol, have been used as adjuncts to the psychiatrist's regimen. The most recent adjunct to the armamentarium of the psychiatrist is the use of tetraethylthiuram disulfide (antabuse®). This medicament functions not as a conditioned reflex but by actually altering the body metabolism so as to give unpleasant physical (and emotional) responses to the intake of alcohol, by any route of administration. The pharmacodynamic effect of tetraethylthiuram disulfide is said to be mediated through the incomplete oxidation of alcohol, whereby the chemical reaction is