Rapid Tranquilization
PAUL POLAK M.D.1, and
LAWRENCE LAYCOB M.D.2
1 Director of Southwest Denver Community Mental Health Services, Inc., 3052 West Mississippi Ave., Denver, Colo. 80219
2 Private practice in Denver
The authors describe a treatment of acute schizophrenia that combines drug therapy and psychotherapy. Patients are rapidly tranquilized by titrating dosage levels of phenothiazines administered every one or two hours against the patient's specific target symptoms to produce a tranquilized end point within six hours. Dosage levels are adjusted daily and chemotherapy is integrated with intensive social-systems intervention centered on the patient's real-life setting.
