Imipramine and Thioridazine in Depressed and Schizophrenic Patients

Abstract

Thioridazine hydrochloride and imipramine hydrochloride were compared in 68 schizophrenic and 77 depressive patients using blind controls. A computer procedure making use of pretreatment psychiatric rating profiles was used to classify patients into depressive and schizophrenic groups. In the schizophrenic sample, thioridazine was found to be significantly superior to imipramine in a number of areas. In the depressive sample, essentially no significant differences between the drugs were found, although the observed mean differences tended to favor thioridazine over imipramine in this group also. Summing across both patient samples, thioridazine was found significantly superior to imipramine in a number of symptom areas, while imipramine was superior only in reducing motor retardation.