Narcotherapy in the Treatment of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorders: A Report of Two Cases (Short Communication) (Case Study‪)‬

Victims of shell shock in the First World War were frequently suspected of malingering; some were accused of cowardice and shot. Such primitive forms of treatment as were available at that time were administered with military brutality (Barker 1992). The realization that everyone has a breaking point and the introduction of narcotherapy (the drug-facilitation of abreaction, the reliving of an experience in order to purge it of its emotional excess) for some cases of acute combat neurosis constituted major advances in the second phase of the world conflict, which began in 1939. The findings of early pioneers (Horsley 1936; Bleckwenn 1930) were utilized in England, after the retreat from Dunkirk (Sargant & Slater 1941) and subsequently in the American forces (Grinker & Spiegel 1944). The victims of stress, protected by a narcotic shield, were able to recall and describe their traumatic experiences and to release the corresponding emotion. Catharsis and desensitization produced relief, and many were able to return to the battle zone. The post-war popularity of drug-facilitated interviewing reached its peak in the late 1940s, when it was claimed that the future of narcosynthesis was infinite and the possibilities endless (Tilkin 1949). The subsequent decline of interest and utilization was rapid and almost total. A review of the North American literature from 1930 to 1978 cited 57 relevant studies, for which 1942 was the median year (Dysken et al. 1979a). In the past decade there has been a marked paucity of reports (Hurwitz 2004; Fackler, Anfinson & Rand 1997) and narcotherapy is not mentioned in current editions of comprehensive textbooks of psychiatry (Gelder, Lopez-Ibor & Andreason 2000; Hales, Yudofsky & Talbot 1999). The results of a recent British survey (Wilson 2002) imply that drug-induced abreaction may become entirely obsolete during the present century.