Phenothiazines in Prevention of Psychiatric Hospitalization

Abstract

THIS PAPER is the fourth in a series of investigations into the factors influencing hospitalization of schizophrenic outpatients. In the first publication it was shown that chlorpromazine had a marked effect in reducing the incidence of hospitalization among ambulatory chronic schizophrenic Patients.¹Further exploration revealed that although chlorpromazine was highly effective early in treatment, its effectiveness diminished progressively over time, suggestingdelayrather thanpreventionof hospitalization. In contrast to phenothiazine-treated patients, the hospitalization rates for groups of patients treated with placebo were similar, regardless of duration of treatment exposure.²A review of the literature found a similar consistency in the hospitalization rates reported for placebo-treated patients (25% to 30%),²suggesting the existence of a finite subgroup of "hospitalization prone" patients in any given group of ambulatory schizophrenic patients. In addition, the consistency in the hospitalization rates of placebo-treated groups suggests