From the Images in Psychiatry column:
Roger Keith "Syd" Barrett was both the founding member of one of the most legendary rock bands and probably the most famous rock star to develop psychosis.
There are no other rock bands as intimate as Pink Floyd with the impact of psychosis on music and art. We hope to see the many musicians who have benefited from his talent promote artistic events supporting psychosis research and to allow the many other "crazy diamonds" in the rough to shine as Syd Barrett did, while at the same time reducing the stigma of mental illness.
The footnotes include a link to a paper published in the Archives of General Psychiatry in 1983:
We studied whether patients hospitalized for LSD psychosis are clinically separable from acute schizophrenics. The family histories, manifest symptoms, premorbid adjustment, and profiles on an extensive test battery were analyzed for 52 LSD psychotics and 29 matched first-break schizophrenics. The LSD patients did not differ from schizophrenics in incidence of psychosis or suicide among the parents. However, the rate of parental alcoholism for LSD psychotics far exceeded that for schizophrenics and the general population. The two groups were distinguished on some clinical features but were equivalent in premorbid adjustment, on most cognitive measures when initially hospitalized or reassessed three to five years later, and in number of subsequent rehospitalizations. Thus, in most respects the LSD psychotics were fundamentally similar to schizophrenics in geneaology, phenomenology, and course of illness. The findings supported a model of LSD psychosis as a drug-induced schizophreniform reaction in persons vulnerable to both substance abuse and psychosis.
The link with alcoholism is interesting and makes one wonder: aside from heroin, what other substance has contributed more to an artist's downfall than booze? (Either directly or, according to the abstract above, indirectly.)
Oh, I'm sure someone's going to correct me on that one...
My Trusted MOGs
By the way, that find was courtesy of Mind Hacks.
My Trusted MOGs
Interesting stuff. My best friend in junior high/high school suffered (and probably still does) from something akin to LSD psychosis. His parents weren't alcoholics, but the father was a noted biochemist and they had taken part in early LSD experiments in the early 60s. Because they were under supervision and taking LSD made under strict laboratory conditions, they had no trouble with the idea of their son dropping street acid twice a week when he was 17. At least until he tried to kill his mother....
My Trusted MOGs
So it could depend on more than just previous "exposure," as it were, to alcohol - it could apply to any mind-altering substance. May see whether there have been any further studies...
But, I got to tell you, those are the kinds of stories that give me chills and make me want to keep a very safe distance.
My Trusted MOGs
I'd always thought his problems were primarily due to a year-and-a-half of dropping street acid twice a week at an age when the brain is still forming....
My Trusted MOGs
I'm not a doctor or expert - not by a long shot. But it's always seemed to me that addictive personalities - particularly in cases of substance abuse - tend to spawn children with addictive personalities. Alcohol, smack, acid...it's not necessarily the poison of choice that's passed down - it's the abuse.
My Trusted MOGs
I think addiction does begin early in life like childhood, this is good writing you did
My Trusted MOGs
So tough to say. Great article and post, I think it is a culmination of so many factors. I have experience with a schizophrenic sister, and I know that she was doing a bit of acid when she was in HS, but nothing like twice a week. There is a family Hx of mental illness, and alcoholism, but I always felt like stress during childhood development was really what shaped my sister's battle. It is very mysterious. Probably all contributed to a physical, mental toxicity.
My Trusted MOGs
In related news: Drink most to blame for violent offences
Violent crime is overwhelmingly fuelled by drink rather than drugs, with nearly half of all incidents linked to alcohol, according to the British Crime Survey published yesterday. Just 17% of violent offences are committed by people who have been using drugs, the figures show.
The first official figures on the impact of the change in pub opening hours also suggests that the predictions of "murder and mayhem" that accompanied its introduction have not been borne out. But they do show a slight increase - of just under 7,000 - to 940,000 offences in the volume of violent disorder, criminal damage and harassment committed between 6pm and 6am in the 12 months following the change in the licensing laws, suggesting that a "cafe culture" is still a long way away in Britain's late-night city centres.
The figures also show a rise in the number of offences - up 10,000 to 57,000 - committed between 3am and 6am reflecting the increased number of people, including police, about at that time. But it remains only a small proportion - 4% - of the total amount of violent crime, disorder and criminal damage recorded. The volume of more serious violence committed has actually fallen since the drinking hours changed.
And continue to watch this space: one of our researchers is looking at a possible relationships between Philadelphia's "stop-and-go" beer outlets and gun violence. The paper, I believe, is awaiting peer review.