The Physiological Basis of the Carbon Dioxide Therapy of Psychoneuroses

Abstract

The present investigation belongs to a series of studies (1) in which an attempt has been made to contribute to an understanding of the mechanisms underlying those forms of therapy of mental diseases which directly involve physiological mechanisms.† In the previous work an experimental analysis was performed in order to determine the common factor involved in the various forms of so-called shock therapy. It was found that all forms of this therapy produced in the experimental animal an increased reactivity of the centres of the sympathetic system to direct (2) and reflex stimulation (3). Chronic experiments (4) also showed that these alterations in autonomic reactivity persisted for a long period of time if the “therapy” (e.g., electroshock) was applied repeatedly as it is commonly done in the human patient. Special experiments revealed that increased sympathetic reactivity can be demonstrated in the hypothalamus (5).