Performance of long-stay schizophrenics after drug withdrawal on matched immediate and delayed recall tasks.
Both anticholinergic and neuroleptic drugs were withdrawn from eight long-stay hospitalized chronic schizophrenics. These patients and normal controls were then tested on Calev, Venables & Monk's (1983) immediate and delayed matched recall tasks to evaluate their rate of forgetting of verbal well-encoded materials. The results showed rapid forgetting in schizophrenics. This finding suggests that a post-encoding deficit characterizes long-stay schizophrenics after drug withdrawal. Cognitive and brain pathologies that may explain these results are discussed.
Ezrath Nashim Hospital, Jerusalem, Israel.
A
A
Calev
D
D
Nigal
S
S
Kugelmass
M P
MP
Weller
B
B
Lerer
D000328:Adult; D014150:Antipsychotic Agents / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000009:adverse effects*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008134:Long-Term Care / Q000523:psychology; D008297:Male; D008570:Memory, Short-Term / Q000187:drug effects*; D011939:Mental Recall / Q000187:drug effects*; D010276:Parasympatholytics / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000009:adverse effects*; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000188:drug therapy*; D012565:Schizophrenic Psychology; D013375:Substance Withdrawal Syndrome / Q000523:psychology*; D014706:Verbal Learning / Q000187:drug effects
D014150:Antipsychotic Agents; D010276:Parasympatholytics