Dr Sue Levy: 7:43am Nov 21, 2007: Careful (everyone!) not to confuse the French "délire" with the English "delirium". "Délires" are delusions, an important symptom of psychosis. http://www.chu-rouen.fr/ssf/psy/delires.html Dr Sue Levy: 7:46am Nov 21, 2007: Delirium = état confusionnel Dr Sue Levy: 11:02am Nov 21, 2007: L'effet antipsychotique : encore dénommé effet antiproductif, ou effet antidélirant. Il est illustré par la réduction des symptômes "positifs" ou "productifs" des états psychotiques
users.skynet.be/sisyphe/definitions.asp Helen Genevier: 11:22am Nov 21, 2007: Great Sue, thanks, I was slowly coming to that conclusion too (I mean that the French uses délire in a different way to UK delirium) but couldn't pin it down. Dr Sue Levy: 12:48pm Nov 21, 2007: It is indeed confusing (pardon the pun) given that neuroleptics can be used to treat psychotic symptoms as well as acute confusional states AKA delirium. However, this does not change the fact that "antidélirant" is not referring to delirium.
Explanation: If you enter "neuroleptic" into google, it directs you to the entry on "Antipsychotics" in Wikipedia: the section on terminology begins "Antipsychotics are also referred to as neuroleptic drugs, or simply neuroleptics."
-------------------------------------------------- Note added at 20 mins (2007-11-20 23:52:19 GMT) --------------------------------------------------
The next ref is from the e-medecine website: "The term neuroleptic refers to the effects on cognition and behavior of *antipsychotic* drugs that reduce confusion, delusions, hallucinations, and psychomotor agitation in patients with psychoses." http://www.emedicine.com/emerg/topic338.htm
I've worked in the area of psychiatric medicine, and "antipsychotic" is a common term. A "delirium" in such a context is a "psychotic episode".
-------------------------------------------------- Note added at 45 mins (2007-11-21 00:16:34 GMT) --------------------------------------------------
I've looked into this further prompted by Drmanu: it seems to me that "antipsychotic" and "neuroleptic" are pretty much synonyms for describing a class of drugs - and for the action of such drugs, but Drmanu is right that delirium is not the same psychosis and that there are a class of drugs or drug-actions called "antidelirium" drugs, ie drugs that treat states of confusion rather than disconnections from reality. I'm still fairly sure that "antipsychotic" would be an appropriate word here, though it was probably a bit rash to say "100% sure"
-------------------------------------------------- Note added at 58 mins (2007-11-21 00:30:03 GMT) --------------------------------------------------
The difference that's emerging for me is that in the context of discussing the condition of delirium and treating delirium, "antidelirium" drugs are referred to, because the context is obviously the state of delirium and what drugs treat this state, but these same drugs are more generally referred to as "antipsychotic", and neuroleptics were developed for their antipsychotic action rather than the more specific action of being antidelirium.
-------------------------------------------------- Note added at 2 mins (2007-11-20 23:34:17 GMT) --------------------------------------------------
Therefore, the differential contributions of conventional antidelirium ... a logical expansion of the use of these drugs in treating psychiatric illnesses. ...
neuro.psychiatryonline.org/cgi/content/full/17/2/232?ck=nck
-------------------------------------------------- Note added at 24 mins (2007-11-20 23:56:12 GMT) --------------------------------------------------
Delirium is a psychiatric syndrome, it is the most common neuro-psychiatric complication encountered by patients in the terminal phase of illness. ... www.lavoisier.fr/notice/fr599283.html - 19k
-------------------------------------------------- Note added at 25 mins (2007-11-20 23:56:52 GMT) --------------------------------------------------
Environmental interventions are very useful in treating the symptoms of delirium. According to the American Psychiatric Association's practice guideline, ...
clevelandclinicmeded.com/diseasemanagement/psychiatry/delirium/delirium.htm - 40k -
Drmanu49 France Specializes in field Native speaker of: English, French PRO pts in category: 382
The translation workplace 
peer agreement (net): -1
