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Efficacy of clonidine in 24 patients with acute mania

Published Online:https://doi.org/10.1176/ajp.143.11.1450

The authors treated 24 newly hospitalized patients suffering from acute mania with 450-900 micrograms/day of clonidine, an alpha 2-adrenergic agonist, for 2 weeks. A marked decrease in manic symptoms was observed after 5 and 13 days of treatment in about half of the patients. Early response seemed to predict the final result. Patients with a family history of affective disorder and patients who had had a good response to neuroleptics during a previous manic episode tended not to respond to clonidine. At the doses given, the patients' tolerance to clonidine was excellent: sedation was markedly lower than it is with neuroleptic treatment.

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