Gamma-Hydroxybutyrate: The First Sociabilising Molecule

Thesociabilisers are a novel class of molecules, whose properties were discoveredby the author, and which could revolutionise the treatment of diverse psychopathologies. In these psychopathologies I am including the high level of undesirable intra-specific aggression found in the human species. Man has been unable to control his unwanted base-line paranoia and intra-specific aggressivity even with such a powerful ideology such as Christianity. The sociabilisers promise to reach, at last, such a control of these highly undesirable behaviours. The future of mankind is in enhancing sociability, first by sociabilising molecules, then through a new science (not yet in existence) called Neuromorphogenetics. The definitive enhancement of sociability in man is a desirable step for our descendants as this will promote cooperation between individuals instead of a totally useless and destructive intra-specific aggression. Man has suffered since his origin from hisabsurd intra-specific aggression, a heritage of his animal origin, of his present-day bestiality. Intra-specific aggression should beeradicated in order to make "human" beings really human beings andnot sheer tallking and vociferous animals. The study of the Sociabilisers is the first step in this important direction. Christianity has failed to change the intra-specific aggression behaviour of man because this very primitive behaviour is deeply entrenched in the human CNS. Men (especially males and this applies equally to male scientists!) have a propensity to aggress each other and to establish a pecking-order, like all animals. But this primitive entropic behaviour is no longer in accordance with technological societies. In advanced technological societies we need highly sociable individuals. Where, for obvious reasons, Christianity has failed, Science will, probably, succeed! When intra-specific aggression will be only a foregone memory of the primitive Barbarians we are just now, then we can predict a bright future to our descendants. The discovery of the Sociabilisers is just, then, the beginning of a formidable behavioural revolution. One day wars and misery will be seen only as the consequences of a primitive faulty brain created by accident and not by a rational will.

 The first sociabiliser was invented in France,in 1961: Gamma-OH or gamma-hydroxybutyrate. Gamma-OH was invented by Laborit and Wermuth when Laborit was thinking of creating a GABA analog which could penetrate through the brain-blood barrier. He talked about this with Wermuth and Wermuth came with gamma-hydroxybutyric acid. At that time nobody knew that this discovery was potential gold for the study of human behaviour and intra-specific aggression. Three class of sociabilisers have been now defined:

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  2. Tyrosine Hydroxylase activators based on the prototypal Gamma-OH.
  3. Tryptophan Hydroxylase inhibitors based on the prototypalM.D.M.A (3,4 Methylenedioxymethamphetmine).
  4. Mixed Tyrosine Hydroxylase activators/Tryptophan Hydroxylase inhibitors.
This last class may represent powerful novel sociabilisers but this is not yet known.

 Since the discovery of Gamma-OH,in France,the French were unable to classify this molecule under anything known and so the classification of Gamma-OH has been rather erratic! It was, first, a hypnotic. Then it became a pre-anaesthetic and, now, it became an anti-addictive medicine for alcoholism!!! It may or may not become also an anti-addictive against opiate intoxication, as shown in Italy. After about 15 years of studying this molecule I finally arrived at the conclusion that Gamma-OH was the first molecule in a serie of novel molecules to be correctly called the sociabilisers (Sociabilisants,en français) because they act by enhancing sociability.

 Experimenting with both Gamma-OH and MDMA, on myself and volunteers, I soon discovered that these two molecules had subjectively indistinguishable actions on sociability though the sociabilising action of MDMA is first masked because of its serotonin releasing property which is subjectively quite similar to the effects of fluvoxamine (the first specific serotoninergic reuptake blocker which was successfully put on the market) on consciousness and behaviour.

 

Gamma-OH (nicknamed "Or Potable"!!!),A Revolution for Mankind: On the Road to Sociability

Gamma-OH is a pure sociabiliser as its sociabilising effects are not hindered by other antagonistic actions such as enhancement of serotoninergic neurotransmission. Gamma-OH and MDMA have been both classified under the novel concept of Sociabilisers, together with the yet to be synthesised molecules sharing the properties of both Gamma-OH and MDMA which I usually nickname "Sociabiline" while gamma-hyroxybutyrate has been nicknamed "Or Potable" ("drinkable gold") because it is as precious as gold, in my opinion, for mankind.

 When human beings interact on increasingly friendly terms, natural base-line paranoia progressively disappears to be replaced by a feeling of intense pleasure, which is the result of social interaction. The lower natural paranoia becomes, the more sociability intensifies. Theory demonstrates that such consciousness states as "love" or "mystical" states are only states of exceedingly low paranoia and of progressively intensified sociability. In fact,there seems to be a "circuit of paranoia" in the CNS which would generate both paranoia and sociability, depending on how it is activated. Hyperactivation of this system would generate paranoid states while hypoactivation would generate sociable states, from love to mystical states.It is thus hypothesised that depressing paranoia (naturally or pharmacologically) leads automatically to increased sociability (probably throughoxytocinergic neuromediation, etc) while increasing paranoia (like with pentazocine, phenylisopropylamines) leads toasociability and some psychopathologies such as paranoid schizophrenia,the competitive spirit of business men, etc. Modulating the sociability states of human beings can represent a powerful therapeuthics in depression and in the suppression of anxiety or suppression of the negative symptoms of schizophrenia. For instance, depression arises when sociability is decreased: intensifying sociability will thus have a thymoanaleptic (anti-depressant) effect. This is demonstrated bythe powerful thymoanaleptic properties of Gamma-OH. Unfortunately for depressed patients, and because of the imipraminomimetic dogma, the thymoanaleptic properties of Gamma-OH remained essentiallycrypto-thymoanaleptic properties until the author discovered the remarkable effects of gamma-hydroxybutyrate on depression! Sociabilisers will probably throw most SSRIs to the wastebasket once they are fully developed! How many lives could have been saved had the research on anti-depressants not stayed confined on the invention of imipraminomimetics only. The present working hypothesis on the mechanism of action of sociabilisers is that they depress paranoia, as we noticed, thus leading, as natural sociability, to a vast array of potentially useful therapeutic effects. From the effects ofnatural (non-pharmacological) sociability it can be predicted that full sociabilisers should have the following properties:

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  2. Very fast thymoanaleptics.
  3. Potent anxiolytics.
  4. Agressolytics.
  5. They should reverse the negative symptoms of schizophrenia.
  6. Paranolytics.
  7. Anti-anorexics
>From my experience with Gamma-OH, I found that this remarkable molecule had most of the above mentioned properties (but, curiously,baclofen, which mimics Gamma-OH on many points, is not a sociabiliser, though it can elevate mood and potently stimulate sexuality in man while depressing sexuality in the mouse! Here are some properties of Gamma-OH:
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  2. It is a very fast acting anti-depressant and will work in the most severe cases of depression where imipraminomimetics will have no action. Depression disappears to be replaced by an exhilarating feeling of joyand happiness of being alive, associated with a desire of communication with other human beings. Suddenly, suicidal ideation seems grotesque and you wonder how come you were suffering so much for nothing! Life is seen again as beautiful and worth living. Foregone hopes and dreams come back into your existence making yourself again full of enthusiasm and activity... Stress is completely suppressed. This is why, for instance, my late friend Dr.Henri Laborit used to take a Gamma-OH bottle just before making conferences... He would then radiate to the audience with joy, enthusiasm, and happiness! Henri Laborit is, maybe, the scientist who best understood the human psyche and especially human stereotypes and intra-specific aggressivity. He worked all his life to combat those stereotypes and aggressive behaviours which sterilise the "adult" human mind. His recent death this year is a tragedy for Science.
  3. It is a powerful anxiolytic and very useful against panic attacks which are replaced by a state of happy and tranquil well-being.
  4. It can suppress suicidal ideation within less than an hour.
  5. It brings back old repressed memories and induces a very positive state of crying. After crying under Gamma-OH you feel relieved.
  6. It enhances recall of dreams which are remembered more vividly, with colours, realism, etc.
  7. It acts a bit like an electronic "Diode" on consciousness as, under Gamma-OH, we are normally sensitive only to positive ideas and feelings while psychotoxic ideas or emotions are simply automatically discarded.
  8. It depresses aggression. Suddenly you may wish to communicate with the persons you would normally consider as enemies... This is a very important property which should be used in politics, in the same wayKava was used in thePacific, to induce a tranquil state of mind for discussion. The same holds true for scientists...
  9. And of course, as its name implies, it promotes social interaction and the pleasure associated with social interaction.
  10. It enhances love feelings in "lovers", contrary to many imipraminomimetics whick block these subjective emotions and thus induce an emotional deficit.
A substantial number of the imipraminomimetics are, in fact, thymoanaesthetics and not authentic thymoanaleptics: they "suppress" depression by inducing a deficit: blunting of affect, that is an anaesthesia of emotions. So, thymoanaesthetics cannot be classified as authentic anti-depressants but only as pseudo-antidepressants. Why is Gamma-OH so efficient in depression? Because depression can be defined as adeficit of pleasure, due to inhibition of social contacts. Some cultures are more depressogenic than others in this respect. For example, protestant cultures generate more psychopathologies than other cultures because of the extreme repression of emotions. They are thus psychotoxic andpsychopathogenic. By stimulating the desire tointeract with others, depression isautomatically switched off under Gamma-OH! The psychopharmacology of Gamma-OH is still largely unknown but we should focus our attention, I think, on the psychopharmacology of what is called the "maternal instinct" in order to unravel the remarkable properties of this old but unknown molecule, as sociability seems a manifestation of maternal behaviours but expressed differently in adulthood. The development of Sociabilisers will, in my opinion, lead to a complete revolution in the therapy of many psychopathologies, including human intra-specific aggression (competition, war, etc). But why did we wait until now to discover the remarkable properties of a molecule invented 33 years ago? One reason is because Gamma-OH is a short acting medicine: its effects subside within 1 and a half to 2 hours and repeated doses during the day should be used in order to obtain an anti-depressant response. Another reason is that the imipramnomimetic dogma sterilised research and, as all dogma, completely blocked the research of authentic thymoanaleptics. Moreover and worse: due to the chronic lack of enthusiasm of most scientists in the fields of psychiatry and psychopharmacology and also due to the absence of serious research on human beings (isolated people, like Shulgin, still do introspective research), it took a great deal of time for this researcher to discover, at last, the concept ofthymoanaesthesia and to understand that research in depression, for instance, was going nowhere because of a constant confusion concerning the logical nature of what authentic anti-depressants should be like.

 Claude (Bângkoc et Tôkiô,Siam et Japon)

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