Changes in Schizophrenic Psychopathology and Ward Behaviour as a Function of Phenothiazine Treatment

Although the efficacy of chlorpromazine and other phenothiazine derivatives in the treatment of schizophrenic psychotic reactions has been established for almost a decade, there remain differences of opinion regarding which symptoms and behaviours are affected favourably by psychopharmacologic treatment. By and large, the phenothiazines have been characterized as “ataractics” or “tranquillizers”, the implication being that their predominant action is to calm excited patients by relieving the patient's anxiety or other forms of psychic distress. However, clinical experience increasingly asserts that the phenothiazines influence many manifestations of schizophrenic patients other than anxiety and excitement, including symptoms such as incoherent thought and apathy.