A Comparison of Tetrabenazine and Chlorpromazine in Chronic Schizophrenia

Abstract

At the present time only two groups of drugs have an established place in the treatment of chronic schizophrenia, the phenothiazine derivatives and the rauwolfia group of alkaloids. Of these two groups the phenothiazines are in more general use, and, although not free from side-effects, are safer drugs for the long-term management of schizophrenic patients. They also have a wider range of effectiveness in the different schizophrenic syndromes. Many observers, however, have been impressed by the dramatic results obtained in a proportion of cases of long-term schizophrenia treated with the rauwolfia alkaloids and these may be effective in cases not responding to the phenothiazines (Kline, 2).