Clonazepam treatment of tardive dyskinesia: a practical GABAmimetic strategy.

Author(s): Thaker GK, Nguyen JA, Strauss ME, Jacobson R, Kaup BA, Tamminga CA

Affiliation(s): Maryland Psychiatric Research Center, Department of Psychiatry, Baltimore 21228.

Publication date & source: 1990-04, Am J Psychiatry., 147(4):445-51.

Publication type: Clinical Trial; Randomized Controlled Trial

Because of the efficacy of specific gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) agonists in tardive dyskinesia, the authors tested the benzodiazepine clonazepam in a 12-week, double-blind, placebo-controlled, randomized crossover trial in 19 chronically ill patients with tardive dyskinesia who were being treated with neuroleptics. They found a 35% decrease in dyskinesia ratings with clonazepam treatment. The six patients with predominantly dystonic symptoms showed greater benefit than the 13 patients with predominantly choreoathetoid dyskinesias. Tolerance developed to the antidyskinetic effect of clonazepam in the five patients whose long-term use of the drug was followed, but a 2-week clonazepam-free period recaptured its antidyskinetic effect.