Am J Psychiatry 1990; 147:445-451
Copyright © 1990 by American Psychiatric Association
Clonazepam treatment of tardive dyskinesia: a practical GABAmimetic strategy
GK Thaker, JA Nguyen, ME Strauss, R Jacobson, BA Kaup and CA Tamminga
Maryland Psychiatric Research Center, Department of Psychiatry, Baltimore 21228.
Because of the efficacy of specific gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) agonists
in tardive dyskinesia, the authors tested the benzodiazepine clonazepam in
a 12-week, double-blind, placebo-controlled, randomized crossover trial in
19 chronically ill patients with tardive dyskinesia who were being treated
with neuroleptics. They found a 35% decrease in dyskinesia ratings with
clonazepam treatment. The six patients with predominantly dystonic symptoms
showed greater benefit than the 13 patients with predominantly
choreoathetoid dyskinesias. Tolerance developed to the antidyskinetic
effect of clonazepam in the five patients whose long-term use of the drug
was followed, but a 2-week clonazepam-free period recaptured its
antidyskinetic effect.
