Sodium Amytal in Treatment of Aphasia

WHILE on military duty in North Africa in 1943, Stein and I¹had the opportunity to observe the effects of intravenous administration of sodium amytal on a group of patients with dysphasia following shell fragment wounds of the dominant cerebral hemisphere. It was found that motor aphasia improved suddenly and dramatically in response to this medication. It was observed, too, that in some cases this improvement was sustained long after the effects of the sodium amytal had worn off. Furthermore, during the period of work with the patient, the helpless frustration reactions so commonly observed in aphasic patients did not appear and the patient was capable of sustained effort far beyond that which he showed without the drug. For these reasons, it was felt that the drug would be useful in the rehabilitation of soldiers with aphasia due to cerebral injuries. These observations have been verified by other investigators;