SULFOZINE AS A PRODUCT OF SOVIET PSYCHIATRY: WAS IT SOLELY A «REPRESSIVE AND DISCIPLINE-PUSHING» MEASURE, OR REALLY AN USEFUL THERAPEUTIC AGENT?

Abstract

Purpose. To make a thorough historical review about the use of sulfozine therapy in Soviet, post-Soviet and Western psychiatry, and to show both its repressive and disciplinary use and its therapeutic utility, to reach an objective conclusion on its use and value, and to present two treatment-resistant clinical cases in which remission was obtained only after sulfozine use, while all other biological methods tried, together with standard psychopharmacotherapy, have failed in these cases. Methodology. We have performed a deep historical literature search in the libraries of Tel-Aviv University, Medical Faculty, and Stavropol State Medical University, and in PubMed. The data we have found regarding sulfozine use, both repressive and therapeutic, are then presented there. Together with such historical data, we also present and describe two clinical cases we have met in our practice. Results. Results we have obtained by this historical review and review of the cases presented, definitely show that pyrotherapy (including sulfozine therapy) wasn’t just an unscientific, cruel and exclusively repressive or disciplinary method of therapy, but also was - and perhaps still can be - an useful therapeutic method of overcoming treatment resistance. Practical implications. Our results can be applied in psychiatry and substance use medicine, especially in treatment-resistant subpopulations.

Keywords

• сульфозин
• история психиатрии
• пиротерапия
• шизофрения
• депрессивные состояния
• маниакальные состояния
• карательная психиатрия
• терапевтическая резистентность