Sedation Threshold

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Abstract
The sedation threshold is an objective pharmacological determination which represents the amount of intravenous sodium amytal required to elicit certain eeg and speech changes. The purpose of this paper was to present evidence bearing on the validity of this method as a clinical neurophysiological approach to investigation of psychopathological problems. Data were drawn from tests on over 500 psychiatric patients and 45 non-patient controls. The following general results were obtained: (a) The sedation threshold was positively correlated with degree of manifest anxiety in nonpsychotic subjects. The greater the manifest anxiety in psychoneurotics or control subjects, the higher the threshold. (b) Obsessional personality characteristics tended to be associated with a high threshold; hysterical characteristics with a low threshold. (c) The sedation threshold was negatively correlated with degree of gross impairment of ego functioning in psychotics. The greater the ego impairment, the lower the threshold. (d) The threshold differentiated between neurotic and psychotic depressions with a high degree of accuracy. Thresholds were low in psychotic depressions and high in neurotic depressions. The sedation threshold is a valid approach for psychopathological investigation. Its relation to the neurophysiology of effect and personality was discussed.

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