“Psychdysleptics” are substances which disturb 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” was defined as substances which disturb mental activity by their action that can be antagonized by various “psycholeptics” (Ban 1969). The term, was  also adopted by the World Health Organization (WHO) Study Group in Research in Psychopharmacology in 1967, and in the WHO Technical Report Series Number 371, “psychodysleptics” were redefined as  substances which produce abnormal mental phenomena, particularly in the “cognitive” and “perceptual spheres”.  

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. MéthodesChimiothérapiques en Psychiatrie. Paris; Masson et Cie; 1961.

World Health Organization Styydy Group on Psychopharmacology. Technical Report Series No. 371. Geneva:  World Health Organization; 1967.

Carlos R.Hojaij.

March 6, 2014