Origin of delirium in DT's

Fisher CM.  Ethanol in treatment of AWS.  The Neurologist 2009; 15: 242-244.  In category "Notes from a Legend."

 

CM Fisher writes in the Neurologist that behaviorist Watson (1925) believed the terror feeling of having one's arms and legs restrained was a primitive inborn reflex and that was re-expressed when alcoholics were restrained and became agitated.

 

In the same article, Fisher writes about the utility of intravenous and oral alcohol being superior than benzodiazepines in some moderate social drinkers who are admitted and who suffer DT's