La Thérapeutique Par la Chlorpromazine en Pratique Psychiatrique

Paris: Masson, 1956. First Edition (presumed; no prior editions or printings cited). 150 pages; 25 cm. Includes bibliographical references. Very good in mildy worn wraps; prelims faintly foxed. . Paperback. ISBN: National Library: 44510610R

In French. Uncommon. "Louis Revol's manual was written for working psychiatrists. It is one of the first book-length clinical guides to chlorpromazine, the first modern antipsychotic drug. Revol was a psychiatrist in Lyon, and the book appeared just after 1955, the year historians identify as the point when the drug's place in psychiatric treatment became settled. The drug had been synthesized at Rhône-Poulenc in 1950 and was first used by Henri Laborit in surgery and "artificial hibernation." Jean Delay and Pierre Deniker then showed in 1952 that it worked against psychosis when given alone. The French journal literature that followed was scattered and partly experimental, often treating the drug as one part of hibernation or sleep cures. Revol's achievement was to turn that literature into practical guidance on which patients to treat, how to give the drug, at what doses, and what side effects to watch for. Seen today, the book records the field before randomized controlled trials. Its recommendations rest on clinical impression, and Cochrane reviewers have found that chlorpromazine doses later drifted by consensus rather than evidence. It also predates the recognition of tardive dyskinesia, a movement disorder caused by long-term use, so its confidence in prolonged treatment needs to be read with that in mind. Its central conclusion has mostly held up: chlorpromazine remains a reference treatment for psychosis and is still on the World Health Organization's list of essential medicines. The book is also a record of French clinical know-how from the years before the English-language literature came to dominate the field." Mental Disorders Maladies mentales. mental disorders. Mental illness