High dosage chlorpromazine alone and in combination with an antiparkinsonian agent (procyclidine) in the treatment of hospitalized depressions

Interactions of CNS Drugs: Psychotherapeutic Agents—The Antipsychotic Drugs

Aspects of the pharmacology of the phenothiazine antipsychotic agents pertinent to possible interactions are reviewed. Pharmacokinetic interactions of possible clinical importance are the interference with the absorption of the phenothiazines by antacids, reversal of the hypotensive effect of guanethidine by psychotropic drugs, blockade of the effects of levodopa in Parkinson's disease, and stimulation of phenothiazine-metabolizing enzymes by phenobarbital. Pharmacologically, phenothiazines may potentiate certain depressant effects of other CNS depressants or add to the anticholinergic side effects of a number of other drugs. The phenothiazines appear to antagonize both the CNS stimulant and the anorexic effects of amphetamines and related substances. Other reactions of possible concern are the phenothiazine-induced hypoglycemia, the relationship of lithium toxicity to sodium intake, and the number of false positive pregnancy tests in patients on phenothiazine therapy.

Further replication of factors of psychopathology in the interview, ward behavior and self-reported ratings of hospitalized depressed patients

Factors of psychopathology in the interview, ward behavior, and self-reported ratings were initially obtained for 124 depressed patients from nine hospitals and subsequently replicated in an independent sample of 648 depressed patients from these same plus one additional hospital. The present study provided a further test of the generalizability and stability of these factors in a third independent sample of 325 depressed patients from these same hospitals. These factors appeared to be quite stable across the three studies and could be categorized into 10 major areas of psychopathology: Depressed Mood, Hostility, Guilty-Ashamed, Anxiety, Sleep Disturbances, Interest and Involvement in Activities, Paranoid Projections, Cognitive Loss, Apathy-Motor Retardation, and Hypochondriasis.