WITHDRAWAL SYMPTOMS AFTER ABRUPT CESSATION OF ANTIPSYCHOTIC COMPOUNDS: CLINICAL CONFIRMATION IN CHRONIC SCHIZOPHRENICS
D. M. GALLANT M.D.1,
C. G. EDWARDS M.D.1,
M. P. BISHOP PH.D.1, , and
G. C. GALBRAITH PH.D.1
1 Dept. of Psychiatry and Neurology and Dept. of Medicine, Tulane Univ. School of Medicine, New Orleans, La., and East Louisiana State Hospital, Jackson, La.
Two separate double-blind studies comparing the incidence of withdrawal emesis after the abrupt cessation of medication, one using an inert placebo and the second using phenobarbital as control agents, revealed highly significant differences between the antipsychotic compounds (phenothiazine and butyrophenone derivatives) and the control groups (placebo and phenobarbital). Thorough medical evaluation, including gastric analyses, ruled out gastritis as an etiology of the gastrointestinal withdrawal symptom. It would thus appear that abrupt termination of these antipsychotic medications in chronic schizophrenics does produce gastrointestinal withdrawal symptoms of CNS origin in a significant number of treated subjects.
