Dinitrophenol in Dementia PræCox*

Abstract

OBSERVATIONS of the effect of dinitrophenol on patients with dementia praecox should prove of value in (1) determining the reaction of these patients to its therapeutic use, and (2) extending our knowledge of this new drug. Cutting, MIehrtens and Tainter,1 and Tainter, Stockton and Cutting,2 have reported their observations of the action of alphadinitrophenol. Therapeutic doses cause an increase in metabolism, and with it a loss of weight without fever. The indifference and lack of spontaneity in dementia praecox, we thought, offer a rational basis for the use of a drug which stimulates metabolism. Hoskins and Walsh,3 among others, have reported that the rate of oxygen consumption in schizophrenic patients is below normal. During the progress of our work Masserman and Goldsmith 4 reported their observations of the effects of dinitrophenol on ' eighteen patients whose psychobiologic status was characterized by sluggishness, passivity and apathy.' The mental changes in their patients had occurred within the previous year.