Am J Psychiatry 1989; 146:1598-1601
Copyright © 1989 by American Psychiatric Association
Efficacy of combinations of intramuscular antipsychotics and sedative- hypnotics for control of psychotic agitation
ES Garza-Trevino, LE Hollister, JE Overall and WF Alexander
Harris County Psychiatric Center, Houston, TX 77225.
The combination of haloperidol, 5 mg, and lorazepam, 4 mg, was both
effective and safe for managing agitated behavior in an open trial with
acutely psychotic patients. The combination also appeared to be superior to
its individual components when studied in a randomized, nonblind trial. The
principle of the combined use of antipsychotics and sedative-hypnotics was
further tested by comparing two new combinations: thiothixene, 5 mg, and
lorazepam, 4 mg, versus haloperidol, 5 mg, and phenobarbital sodium, 130
mg. These combinations had comparable efficacy and safety, and the level of
transquilization approached that produced by the haloperidol-lorazepam
combination in the preceding studies.
