Barbiturate automatism--myth or malady?

An Interesting Case of Barbiturate Automatism and Review of Literature

A 48 year old man with a diagnosis of HIV infection since 1993, on highly active anti-retro viral therapy (HAART) with stable CD4 count and undetectable viral load for years and seizure disorder presented with recurrent drowsiness. His seizures were well controlled on phenobarbitone for years. Repeated laboratory evaluation demonstrated toxic levels of phenobarbitone in his blood. A thorough cl...

The vampire in medical perspective: myth or malady?

In Wonderland: The Surrealist adventures of Women Artists in Mexico and the United States DidacticS

Surrealism and the New Universal Myth During the 1940s and 1950s, surrealists increasingly explored abstraction. A widespread interest in biomorphism (the use of organic shapes that reference natural life forms) was accompanied by a heightened emphasis on automatism. Investigations into abstraction paralleled the search for a new social myth, which André Breton deemed therapeutic, mind expandin...

Leaders The medicolegal aspects of automatism in mild head injury

Automatism or automatic behaviour was originally described in the Hippocratic corpus in relation to sleepwalking and other nocturnal behaviours. Despite its long history, this area of automatism remains confused and imprecise in the medical and legal literature. Within English common law, it is a fundamental principle that the intent (mens rea) and the act (actus reus) must occur together to co...

The medicolegal aspects of automatism in mild head injury.

Automatism or automatic behaviour was originally described in the Hippocratic corpus in relation to sleepwalking and other nocturnal behaviours. Despite its long history, this area of automatism remains confused and imprecise in the medical and legal literature. Within English common law, it is a fundamental principle that the intent (mens rea) and the act (actus reus) must occur together to co...