Psychiatry and Clinical Psychopharmacology

Substance abuse and dependence Hallucinogen induced psychotic disorder, 4-bromo-2,5-dimethoxyphenethylamine (2C-B) abuse: a case report

Psychiatry and Clinical Psychopharmacology 2013; 23: Supplement S239-S239
Read: 478 Published: 17 March 2021

4-bromo-2,5-dimethoxyphenethylamine (2C-B) is a member of psychedelic phenethylamine drugs, which has a similar structure and effects as mescaline. From the WHO Expert Committee assessment of 2C-B: High doses of 2C-B is a strong hallucinogen, producing particularly marked visual hallucinations with an intense colour play, intriguing patterns emerging on surfaces and distortions of objects and faces. 2C-B has also been reported to enhance sexual feelings, perception and performance. A 24-year-old male was admitted to our inpatient clinic with complaints of psychotic symptoms that began after a hallucinogen named 2C-B abuse. Case has been in university in London for the last 6 years and he had been smoking marijuana for 5 years until last year. One year ago, he tried a party drug named 2C-B once with alcohol and experienced persecutory and referential delusions lasting for 1 month. Delusions had been improved after one month without any treatment and patient said that he quitted marijuana and all drugs he (had) used to abuse since then. He was free of any psychotic symptoms and functional in school and social domains within last year. Last month he used one more tablet of 2C-B, without alcohol to check out if the psychotic experiences he had before was due to 2C-B or not. He suffered from a series of delusions; persecutory and referential and also suffered from depersonalization, derealization and auditory hallucinations. Moreover, his academic performance had been decreased gradually for a month in admission. In his medical treatment, he was treated with Amisulpiride 600 mg per day and Olanzapine 20 mg per day, and moreover in order to treat insomnia he was prescribed benzodiazepines to improve his insomnia for one month in our clinic. In the course of psychological treatment, he has attended our 12- step addiction treatment program and also engaged in individual psychotherapy in order to enhance his coping abilities for dealing with on his depersonalization symptoms. His scores on Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale improved to 43 from 96 as rated at his admission. He has been free of any substance until now but still suffering from sleep disturbances and on treatment with quetiapine 100 mg per day. 2C-B is a hallucinogen and it has been reported that single dose of these drugs may cause persistent psychosis in abusers. In European countries, hallucinogen abuse is more common than in our country. But professionals working in the area of addiction need to ask if there is anybody who is concerned about hallucinogen abuse in European countries.

EISSN 2475-0581