A comparison of purposeless movements in psychiatric patients treated with antipsychotic drugs, and normal individuals.

Oro-facial dyskinesia and purposeless trunk and limb movements were assessed, using a standard videotape rating technique, in 182 psychiatric patients receiving antipsychotic medication, in a second sample of 43 elderly psychiatric patients also receiving antipsychotic drugs, and 85 normal, drug-naive subjects. In both the first patient sample and the group of normal subjects, oro-facial dyskinesia was more common over 50 years of age. Statistical analysis of the data suggested that drug-induced oro-facial dyskinesia has a characteristic pattern of movement distribution significantly different from that of idiopathic oro-facial dyskinesia. The videotapes of the first patient sample and the normal subjects were viewed by a neurologist who assessed and categorised all movements. Purposeless trunk and limb movements were classified as either normal or abnormal. Normal purposeless movements were significantly more common in the drug-naive subjects. The presence of abnormal movements such as choreiform movements, dystonias and stereotypies and mannerisms was limited, almost exclusively, to the patients.