Am J Psychiatry 1977; 134:84-87
Copyright © 1977 by American Psychiatric Association
Tardive dyskinesia: are first signs reversible?
F Quitkin, A Rifkin, L Gochfeld and DF Klein
Although tardive dyskinesia, a serious and sometimes irreversible side
effect of antipsychotic drug use, is becoming increasingly common, there is
still considerable confusion concerning the course of the syndrome. The
authors observed 12 psychiatric patients with tardive dyskinesia from the
inception of the syndrome. They found that first symptoms rarely persisted
if antipsychotics were discontinued and concluded that the length of time
symptoms have persisted prior to drug discontinuation, not age at onset,
may be the major variable determining reversibility of the syndrome.
