[Modification of schizophrenia by intensive neuroleptic therapy and the course of the disease after withdrawal of neuroleptic drugs].

Since 1976 a group of 229 patients with schizophrenic or other paranoid illness (9 patients) were treated for about 14 weeks with intramuscular or intravenous injections of fluphenazinedecanoate. During the first 2 weeks, three injections of 250 mg were given after which time the injections were given at three weekly intervals with slowly decreasing dosage. The patients also received tablets of procyclidine and 100-150 mg of amitriptyline per os. After the initial intensive phase the patients received an average of 145 mg i.m. every 3 weeks. A total of 209 patients could be followed up. Of those, 127 had for various reasons not continued with oral medication. The course of their illnesses was compared with that of the patients who had complied. The present report which represents a 3-year follow-up study confirms the findings of an earlier paper which showed the rapid onset and stability of remission, the absence of relapses among the patients who were under continued treatment, and the relative freedom from relapses among the patients who did not continue to have further neuroleptic medication. The anticipation that the initial high-dosage medication would have deleterious effects on the personality, producing robots or zombies, was shown to be groundless.