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A Psychological and Physiological Evaluation of the Effects of Intravenous Diazepam

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2018

Desmond Kelly
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, St. George's Hospital Medical School, Atkinson Morley's Hospital, 31 Copse Hill, London SW20 0NE
Robert Pik
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, St. George's Hospital Medical School, Atkinson Morley's Hospital, 31 Copse Hill, London SW20 0NE
Char-nie Chen*
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, St. George's Hospital Medical School, Atkinson Morley's Hospital, 31 Copse Hill, London SW20 0NE
*
Now at: Department of Physiology, University College London, Gower Street, London WC 1

Extract

Intravenous diazepam is widely used both in general medicine and in psychiatry. It is used to produce sedation in psychiatric emergencies and to enhance systematic desensitization; it is also employed in the treatment of drug-induced dystonic reactions, status epilepticus and tetanus, and as an anaesthetic agent. Its property of relieving severe muscle spasm has been utilized to treat patients suffering from ‘stiff-man syndrome‘.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1973 

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Footnotes

A synopsis of this paper was published in the October 1972 Journal.

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