Am J Psychiatry 1989; 146:1289-1292
Copyright © 1989 by American Psychiatric Association
Time course of antipsychotic effects of neuroleptic drugs
PE Keck Jr, BM Cohen, RJ Baldessarini and SL McElroy
Laboratories for Psychiatric Research, Mailman Research Center, McLean Hospital, Belmont, MA 02178.
The authors reviewed relevant studies in an attempt to define the onset and
time course of antipsychotic effects of neuroleptic drugs. After excluding
open trials, studies of chronically psychotic patients, and studies not
using a placebo or nonneuroleptic sedative as a control, they found only
five reports suitable for analysis. Among these, the degree of patients'
improvement during neuroleptic treatment was similar regardless of the
duration of the study. Also, in studies comparing neuroleptics with
sedatives, similar improvement was observed with both treatments. Although
neuroleptic drugs have been used clinically for 35 years, the timing of
their specific therapeutic effects remains unclear.
