Drugs derived from the belladonna plant, such as atropine and SCOPOLAMINE, have many uses in clinical medicine but in high doses can cause memory lapses and illusions. Delirium also may result from the sudden withdrawal after the chronic administration of certain drugs, especially ethanol (ALCOHOL) and SEDATIVE drugs of the BARBITURATE class. The vivid hallucinations of DELIRIUM TREMENS (DTs) during the WITHDRAWAL from alcohol have been vividly portrayed in the cinema and television.
Many drugs that affect behavior can alter the level of consciousness or the perception of the environment. PHENCYCLIDINE (known as PCP or "angeldust") can produce a state of altered consciousness in which sensations from the body and relationship to the environment are misinterpreted. The subject may experience numbness in the limbs and feel as though they are removed from their bodies. These distorted perceptions of the real world can lead to confusion, delusions, and hallucinations—and violent behavior can occur with the slightest provocation. There is controversy as to whether these varied reactions are psychotomimetic (imitating mental illness with psychoses), but not about the extent to which, depending on the dose, subjects are out of it.
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