“Psychoanaleptics” are substances which stimulate mental activity. They are one of the three groups of drugs in the classification of “psychiatric drugs” proposed by Jean Delay (1959 a, b) first in 1957 at the Second World Congress of Psychiatry and subsequently in 1958 at the First Congress of the Collegium Internationale Neuro-psychopharmacologucum.  The term was adopted in Delay and Deniker’s (1961) monograph, Méthodes Chimiothérapiques en Psychiatrie, in which, “psychoanaleptics” were divided into “stimulants of vigilance” and “stimulants of affect” (Ban 1969).

Ban TA. Psychopharmacology. Baltimore: William & Wilkins; 1969, p. 368.

Delay J. Intervention à propos de la terminologie et la classification des médicaments psychiatriques.  In: Kline NS, editor. Neuropsychopharmacology Frontiers. New York: Little Brown; 1959a, pp. 426-9. 

Delay J. Discussion: Fourth Symposium. In: Bradley PB, Deniker P, Radouco-Thomas C. Neuropsychopharmacology. Proceedings of the First International Congress of Neuro-Pharmacology. Amsterdam: Elsevier; 1959b, pp. 167-72

Delay J, Deniker P. Méthodes Chimiothérapiques en Psychiatrie. Paris; Masson et Cie; 1961, pp. 14-7.

Carlos R.Hojaij.

February 6, 2014