Chlorpromazine and Reserpine

Abstract

It has been reported that chlorpromazine decreases the amount of narcotics required for the relief of pain (Laborit, Forster,²and Sadove³and their associates). On the other hand, Houde and Wallenstein⁴observed that there was no potentiation of the analgesic effect of morphine by chlorpromazine in the treatment of cancer patients. Several investigators have reported that chlorpromazine reduces the intensity of abstinence following the withdrawal of morphine or other opiate-like drugs from addicted persons (Stähelin and Kielholz⁵; Cummins and Friend⁶; Friedgood and Ripstein,⁷and Aivazian⁸). Carey⁹found that reserpine was more effective than a placebo in the treatment of opiate addicts who had been arrested and their narcotic drugs abruptly discontinued during incarceration. Studies at the National Institute of Mental Health Addiction Research Center, Lexington, indicate that neither chlorpromazine nor reserpine is of value in treating acute abstinence from morphine. Since these