Am J Psychiatry 1984; 141:633-638
Copyright © 1984 by American Psychiatric Association
Methylphenidate challenge as a predictor of relapse in schizophrenia
JA Lieberman, JM Kane, D Gadaleta, R Brenner, MS Lesser and B Kinon
Although neuroleptics are the major treatment for schizophrenia, there are
no effective measures to determine the appropriate or necessary length of
neuroleptic maintenance. To test the ability of a psychostimulant challenge
to predict relapse following neuroleptic withdrawal, the authors
administered methylphenidate and placebo infusions to 11 stable
schizophrenic outpatients who had been on a neuroleptic maintenance regimen
for at least 6 months. Patients withdrawn from neuroleptics were followed
until relapse. All three patients with a positive response to
methylphenidate challenge relapsed in 1 to 7 weeks; one of seven negative
responders relapsed at week 21. Differences in relapse rates (p = .033) and
survival time (p = .005) between negative and positive responders were
significant.
