This Article  • References  • Full text PDF  • Reply to article  • Send to a friend  • Save in My Folder  • Save to citation manager  • Permissions  Citing Articles  • Contact me when this article is cited  Related Content  • Similar articles in this journal  Social Bookmarking   What's this?

Jan Volavka, MD, PhD
Department of Psychiatry New York University at Manhattan Psychiatrie Center Ward's Island, NY 10035

Yasuko F. Jacquet, PhD
Center for Neurochemistry Rockland Research Institute Ward's Island, NY 10035

Arch Gen Psychiatry. 1981;38(7):844-845.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text PDF and any section headings.

To the Editor.—

The article by Judd et al, "Naloxone-Induced Behavioral and Physiological Effects in Normal and Manic Subjects" (ARCHIVES 1980; 37:583-586), states that lethargy is the main behavioral effect of naloxone hydrochloride in manic patients and normal controls. The finding is in agreement with the observation in ex-addicts reported by Jasinski et al¹ and with animal studies. Naloxone also elicits a slight decrease of the average alpha frequency.² This shift may be a physiological substrate of the lethargic state.

The interesting findings reported by Judd et al raise several questions. What is the mechanism of action of naloxone? The authors hypothesize that "excess and deficiency in opiate receptor activity" may be "responsible for mania and depression respectively." The hypothesis, in addition to its simplicity, has the advantage of fitting the historical evidence of therapeutic efficacy of opioids in depression, as well as the recently reported improvement of . . . [Full Text PDF of this Article]

CiteULike    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter     What's this?