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Richard Jed Wyatt, MD
Neuropsychiatry Branch National Institute of Mental Health Neuroscience Center at St Elizabeth's 2700 Martin Luther King Jr Ave Washington, DC 20032

Arch Gen Psychiatry. 1995;52(3):205-208.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text PDF and any section headings.

IN AN excellent metaanalysis of 66 studies involving more than 4000 patients, Gilbert and colleagues¹ found a cumulative relapse rate of 51.5% in Patients who had stopped taking antipsychotic medications. Of Patients who were maintained on antipsychotic medications, however, only 16.2% relapsed. The study by Gilbert et al raises important and provocative questions. For instance, what are the arguments for and against maintenance medication in schizophrenic patients? What clinical circumstances warrant stopping medications? Might the relapse rate of patients off antipsychotic medications be even higher than Gilbert et al suggest in their review?

UNDER WHAT CIRCUMSTANCES SHOULD ANTIPSYCHOTIC MEDICATIONS BE WITHDRAWN? Reasons to Take Patients off Medications

The risk of tardive dyskinesia is one of the reasons to minimize a Patient's time receiving antipsychotic medications. As noted by Gilbert et al, recent studies have found 1-year incidence rates of tardive dyskinesia in elderly schizophrenic patients to be greater . . . [Full Text PDF of this Article]

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