Am J Psychiatry 1982; 139:494-497
Copyright © 1982 by American Psychiatric Association
Pharmacology of hallucinations induced by long-term drug therapy
CG Goetz, CM Tanner and HL Klawans
The authors studied 20 patients with Parkinson's disease and prominent
hallucinations related to dopaminergic or anticholinergic therapy. The
character of the hallucinations appeared distinct from the classic
description of either acute anticholinergic or acute aminergic
hallucinatory states. Manipulation of either kind of drug could precipitate
or relieve hallucinations in a given patient, which suggests that the
dopaminergic/cholinergic systems are reciprocally active in the
pathophysiology of long-term drug-induced hallucinatory states in this
population.