THE DIFFERENCES SCORE OF POSITIVE AND NEGATIVE SYNDROME SCALE NEGATIVE SCALE BETWEEN SCHIZOPHRENIC PATIENTS THAT RECEIVED RISPERIDONE AND RISPERIDONE WITH FLUOXETINE

Abstract

Objective: Negative symptoms are relatively common with a recent study finding that nearly 58% of outpatients had at least one negative symptom, negative symptoms are better predictors of functioning than positive symptom. Antidepressants have been a natural and common choice for the treatment of negative symptoms considering the conceptual proximity of their mode of action and the etiological hypotheses involving related neurotransmitters. This study examined differences negative symptoms scale score between patient that received only risperidone and risperidone with fluoxetine.Method: The sample consist of 44 patients with a diagnosis of schizophrenia according to ICD-10 (International Statistical Classification of Diseases), male, age ranged was between 30 and 50 years, signed informed consent before entering into study which had been conducted at the Prof. Dr. M Ildrem Mental Health Hospital Medan Sumatera Utara Indonesia. The study was designed for 4 weeks, open-label, divided into two groups of 22 each, (1) receiving 4 mg/day risperidone with 20 mg/day fluoxetine and (2) receiving only 4 mg/day risperidone. Negative symptoms were assessed using positive and negative syndrome scale (PANSS).Results: The primary finding of the trial was a significant reduction in score ofnegativescale in patients receiving risperidone with fluoxetinecompared to patients receiving only risperidone at the end of 4 weeks. All the subscales of PANSS negative symptoms scale demonstrated significant improvement.Conclusions: In patients with schizophrenia, treating negative symptoms with adjunctive to fluoxetine appears to carry the benefit of improving negative symptoms.