“Stimulants of vigilance” are one of the two groups of ”psychoanaleptics” in Delay’s (1959a,b) classification of “psychiatric drugs”.  They are defined in Delay and Deniker’s monograph, Méthodes Chimiothérapiques en Psychiatrie, published in 1961, as substances which increase alertness, intellect and noetic activity by stimulating arousal. Included among these substances are the “cortical stimulants“, as caffeine, and the “adrenergic activators”, as methylphenidate (Ban 1980).

Ban TA. Psychopharmacology for the Aged. Basel: Karger; 1980.pp. 42-7.

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, p. 15.

Carlos R. Hojaij
January 2, 2014