BACKGROUND The use of psychotropic drugs has increased over recent years in France. GPs are the first prescribers, especially for older patients. AIM To analyse discrepancies between GPs' opinions and practice when prescribing psychotropic drugs to older patients. SETTING Postal surveys sent to GPs all over mainland France. DESIGN OF STUDY Cross-sectional postal study. METHOD A question...

The primary phenomenological feature of a response to hypnotic suggestion is the perception that a person is not the author of their actions and experiences. This distortion in volition during hypnotic responding, known as the classic suggestion effect, has the potential to illuminate the neurocognitive mechanisms underlying hypnosis and inform broader models of agency. Here we sought to clarif...

In postmortem investigations of fatal intoxications it is often challenging to determine which drug/s caused the death. To improve the interpretation of postmortem blood concentrations of sedative and hypnotic drugs and/or clonazepam, all medico-legal autopsies in Sweden - where these drugs had been detected in femoral vein blood during 1992-2006 - were identified in the databases of the Nation...

BACKGROUND Little is known about patients' perceptions of newer hypnotics. AIM To investigate use, experience, and perceptions of Z drug and benzodiazepine hypnotics in the community. DESIGN OF STUDY Cross-sectional survey of general practice patients who had received at least one prescription for a Z drug or benzodiazepine in the previous 6 months. SETTING Lincolnshire, UK. METHOD Self...

BACKGROUND The use of hypnotics is prevalent in the general population. Though these drugs have been shown to be effective, their residual effects may cause significant impairment to the user's driving ability. The objective of this meta-analysis is to determine whether there is a residual effect on driving and better evaluate the safety of hypnotics. METHOD Randomized double-blind placebo-co...

BACKGROUND The aim of the present study was to describe the distribution of regional cerebral blood flow during the hypnotic state (HS) in humans, using positron-emission tomography (PET) and statistical parametric mapping. METHODS The hypnotic state relied on revivification of pleasant autobiographical memories and was compared to imaging autobiographical material in "normal alertness." A gr...

In the present study, four non-drug-abusing humans were trained to discriminate between a hypnotic dose of pentobarbital, 100 mg, and placebo. After acquiring the pentobarbital-placebo discrimination, a range of doses of zolpidem, triazolam, pentobarbital and caffeine were tested to determine whether they shared discriminative stimulus effects with the training dose of pentobarbital, Zolpidem, ...

Placebo response shares phenomenology and likely overlaps with substrates of cognition and personality. However, inconsistent findings abound regarding the potential link between suggestibility and responding to placebos. Here we directly probe whether suggestibility of the hypnotic type influences placebo response. Fifty healthy undergraduates underwent a standard measure of hypnotic suggestib...

Hypnotic perceptual alteration affects brain function. Those hypnotic instructions that reduce perception by creating an illusory obstruction to it reduce brain response to perception in the cognate sensory cortex, as measured by event-related potential (ERP) amplitude and regional blood flow (PET). Those hypnotic instructions that affect the subject's reaction to perception activate the anteri...