Double-blind study of thioridazine and haloperidol in geriatric patients with a psychosis associated with organic brain syndrome

Abstract

Forty geriatric patients from the psychiatric ward of a state hospital were enrolled in a 12 week double-blind comparative study of the concentrate forms of thioridazine and haloperidol. The objective of the study was to assess the efficacy and safety of these drugs in the treatment of psychosis associated with organic brain syndrome in the elderly. Two types of patients comprised the population, those who had been hospitalized most of their adult lives and those who had not entered the hospital until late in life. Although both drugs produced significant improvement in these patients' symptoms, the improvement with thioridazine tended to be greater than that with haloperidol in most ratings. A plateau effect was seen with haloperidol in contrast to a steady improvement seen with thioridazine. The safety of both drugs was confirmed. Geriatric patients who display both psychotic and OBS symptomatology were found to respond quite well to both drugs, regardless of their previous psychiatric history, but a somewhat more dramatic response was seen with thioridazine.