Am J Psychiatry 1985; 142:613-615
Copyright © 1985 by American Psychiatric Association
Tourette syndrome, pimozide, and school phobia: the neuroleptic separation anxiety syndrome
LS Linet
The development of school phobia has been reported in some patients with
Tourette syndrome treated with haloperidol. The author reports on a patient
who developed school phobia on each of three trials with pimozide, a
neuroleptic chemically similar to haloperidol, and proposes the term
"neuroleptic separation anxiety syndrome." The syndrome is clinically
indistinguishable from DSM-III criteria for school phobia (separation
anxiety disorder). Tricyclic antidepressants may have a therapeutic or
prophylactic effect. It is not known whether this neuroleptic side effect
occurs in patients other than those with Tourette syndrome.
