Antipsychotic Dose Study in the Treatment of Schizophrenic Patients

Abstract

The purpose of the study is to find the minimal effective dose range of antipsychotics in schizophrenic population at the Milwaukee County Institution. 213 definite schizophrenic cases per DSM III criteria were chosen for the study (134 acute adult inpatients and 79 adult outpatients). All antipsychotic medication dosages were converted to the equivalent doses of thiothixene. The smallest effective dose was chosen as the minimal dose of the medication for each patient. The overall results show 14 % of the cases were drug resistant and 86 % were drug responsive. Among the acute adult services a higher percentage of paranoid schizophrenic patients needed high doses of antipsychotics (>40mg thiothixene) to stabilize their acute symptoms. But a higher percentage of nonparanoid patients needed low doses of medications (<40mg). Among the outpatients, the lower doses of medications were needed to maintain their improvement (<40mg). Most of them needed only <20mg thiothixene equivalent doses of antipsychotics. The psychiatrists can use each patient' past medication history to estimate the patient's minimal dose.