CONVULSIVE SEIZURES FOLLOWING BARBITURATE WITHDRAWAL

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Abstract
Despite the well recognized hazards of injudicious use of barbiturates, the controlled employment of these drugs in the care of institutionalized patients has in my experience been safe and effective. Seldom has a sustained increase in dosage been necessary, such as would point to development of tolerance; and most patients, with improvement or recovery, have lost their insomnia and have been able to discontinue hypnotics with little difficulty. Nevertheless, observations over the past fourteen years at a private sanatorium for the treatment of nervous and mental disorders show the infrequent occurrence of withdrawal symptoms. Similar observations have been reported in the psychiatric literature1 but seem not to have gained wide attention. General discussions of the barbiturate "problem"2 have failed to mention the symptoms about to be described. Six patients at the sanatorium have had from one to three convulsive seizures following reduction or discontinuance of barbiturates. None of

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