An open trial of adjunctive sertraline in the treatment of chronic schizophrenia.

While the positive symptoms of schizophrenia are amenable to treatment with standard neuroleptics, negative symptoms are often difficult to treat. Co-prescribing antidepressants, such as sertraline, for patients on stable neuroleptic depot preparations is one pharmacological method of overcoming this problem. A total of 20 patients with chronic schizophrenia were enrolled in an open trial over a 12-week period during which sertraline was added to their usual antipsychotic medication. Prior to this, baseline scores for positive and negative symptoms, and extrapyramidal side-effects, were measured. The addition of sertraline resulted in global improvement, with a significant reduction in positive and negative symptom scores and no increase in undesirable neuroleptic side-effects. Sertraline may act by indirectly reducing dopaminergic activity.