Intermittent Pharmacotherapy in Chronic Schizophrenia

In an 18-hospital collaborative study, 375 chronic schizophrenics on stable maintenance doses of anti-psychotic drugs were assigned to one of four groups in which medication was withdrawn two or three days a week on varying schedules, or to one in which daily medication was continued. At the end of 16 weeks, there was no significant difference in relapse rate between the continued-treatment and intermittent-treatment groups. That finding suggests that short-term intermittent drug withdrawal is a feasible treatment policy for hospitalized chronic schizophrenics on maintenance chemotherapy. The benefits of a successful intermittent therapy program include less risk of toxicity for the patient; less work for the staff, allowing more time for other therapeutic activities; and lower drug costs for the hospital.