L-DOPA in the Treatment of Negative Schizophrenic Symptoms: A Single-Subject Experimental Study
The International Journal of Psychiatry in MedicinePublished 1 September 1986
Stanley R. Kay, Lewis A. Opler
Citations31
SJR quartileQ3
SJR score0.62
SNIP0.64
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TL;DR
The eight-week adjunctive treatment reversed a worsening trend in attention, abstract thinking, passive withdrawal, psychomotor retardation, and a cluster of seven negative parameters, while positive symptoms were unaffected, highlighting the importance of distinguishing between positive and negative syndromes in psychopharmacological research.
Abstract
Adjunctive Sinemet (L-DOPA plus carbidopa) therapy was assessed for a neuroleptic nonresponsive schizophrenic with a longstanding negative syndrome. A twenty-seven week double-blind placebo-controlled reversal design found significant improvement specifically for negative symptoms while treated with combined haloperidol-Sinemet as compared against haloperidol-placebo. The eight-week adjunctive treatment reversed a worsening trend in attention, abstract thinking, passive withdrawal, psychomotor retardation, and a cluster of seven negative parameters, while positive symptoms were unaffected. This seemed to represent more than simple reversal of drug-induced akinesia and underscores the importance of distinguishing between positive and negative syndromes in psychopharmacological research.
Keywords
Medicine
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