[Complete neuroleptic withdrawal in patients with schizophrenia with intense symptoms and resistant to treatment].
We report 2 studies evaluating the effects of a complete and progressive neuroleptic withdrawal on the symptomatology of 2 groups of 10 young chronically ill schizophrenic inpatients. In a preliminary open study, we compare the psychiatric symptomatology during a 4-week-period before the beginning of withdrawal and during a similar period following the end of withdrawal. We observe the significative improvement of the blunted affect, the deterioration of an aspecific psychiatric symptomatology (including irritability, excitement, hostility) and the non-modification of the specific schizophrenic symptomatology (in its 3 main components: positive signs, negative signs, disorganization). The second study (a double blind one) reports the effects of a complete neuroleptic withdrawal maintained during a longer period (8 weeks): 1. The improvement of the blunted affect is transiently observed during the 2 first weeks after the end of withdrawal but not after this time. 2. The deterioration of the aspecific psychiatric symptomatology by opposition to the non-significative modification of the specific schizophrenic symptomatology is a fact confirmed by this second study. Even if we can not exclude that the influence of neuroleptic withdrawal on the specific psychotic symptoms may require a longer time frame than 8 weeks to detect, this dichotomic evolution raises the problem of the specific action of neuroleptics in this particular category of patients.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Centre de recherche Université Laval Robert-Giffard, Beauport, (Québec), Canada.
M A
MA
Wolf
L
L
Bailly
J M
JM
Diener
J P
JP
Martinet
S
S
Peretti
Y
Y
Garneau
D000328:Adult; D014150:Antipsychotic Agents / Q000009:adverse effects*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000188:drug therapy*; D012565:Schizophrenic Psychology; D013375:Substance Withdrawal Syndrome / Q000523:psychology*; D013997:Time Factors
D014150:Antipsychotic Agents
Sevrage neuroleptique complet chez des patients schizophrènes présentant une symptomatologie intense et résistant au traitement.