[A trial of the use of nifedipine for preventing relapses in affective and schizoaffective psychoses].

Nifedipine was applied for the secondary prophylaxis of affective phasic disorders. 21 patients with both affective and schizoaffective psychoses were treated with nifedipine for 1-3 years (mostly for 2 years) in a dose of 20-60 mg daily (usually 30-40 mg). The clear prophylactic effect of nifedipine was observed in 76.2% of cases. The duration of affective phases reduced by 44.8% while their frequency decreased by 40.4% as compared with the control group. The positive therapeutic effect was more pronounced for manic disorders (the transition of the disturbances to subclinical, ambulant level). The preventive effect of the drug was more clear in affective than in schizoaffective psychoses (91.7% and 55.6%, respectively) as well as it was more expressed in bipolar (84.6%) than in monopolar (62.5%) patients. The low frequency (23.8%) of side-effects occurred to be the positive characteristics of nifedipine treatment especially in long-term therapy.