Attempts at Treatment of Schizophrenia and Other Nonepileptic Psychoses With Dilantin

Not only is dilantin an anticonvulsant but it is capable of producing distinct changes of mood. Unlike bromides and phenobarbital, in most instances dilantin has a striking effect on psychic equivalents.1Blair, Bailey and McGregor2gave special attention to this action and reported that most of their epileptic patients became "more cheerful and congenial, less quarrelsome and complaining, and more easily managed." There is evidence that this effect of dilantin is independent of a decrease in the number of convulsions, whereas improvement in intelligence and performance tests seems to parallel the reduction in the number of convulsions. Ross and Jackson,3who differentiated carefully between the effect of treatment on psychometric rating and that on conduct, mentioned a patient whose seizures were controlled by dilantin and who also exhibited remarkable improvement in behavior; when dilantin was withdrawn, he had no recurrence of convulsions, but he returned fully to