title: Thioridazine improves affective symptoms in schizophrenic patients.
abstract: Consenting schizophrenic patients ranging in age from 18 to 63 years were withdrawn from antipsychotics for at least 1 week and randomly assigned to receive identical capsules of thioridazine (n = 13), molindone (n = 10), or haloperidol (n = 12) for a minimum of 6 weeks. Compared with the molindone- and haloperidol-treated patients, the thioridazine-treated patients were significantly improved over time as measured by Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS) and Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression (HAM-D) total scores. Improvement in BPRS scores was due largely to improvement in symptoms of anxiety and depression. Subjects did not differ significantly on other measures, with the important exception of weight. On average, molindone patients lost 5 pounds over the 6 weeks of treatment, whereas thioridazine patients gained 6 pounds. Haloperidol-treated patients had no significant weight changes.
authors.affiliation: University of Rhode Island College of Pharmacy, Kingston 02881.
authors.forename: R L
authors.initials: RL
authors.lastname: Dufresne
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Valentino
authors.forename: D J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Kass
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D019964:Mood Disorders / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000209:etiology; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000150:complications / Q000188:drug therapy*; D012565:Schizophrenic Psychology; D013881:Thioridazine / Q000627:therapeutic use*
chemical_list: D013881:Thioridazine