Controlled Trial of Prochlorperazine (“Stemetil”) in Schizophrenia

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
Since Delay, Deniker and Harl (1952) first reported favourably on the use of chlorpromazine in disturbed psychotic patients the extended use of pheno thiazines has contributed to the transformed atmosphere in mental hospital wards. There is still some doubt as to the precise mechanism of action of the phenothiazines. The blocking of arousal responses to afferent stimulation in animals following chlorpromazine has been fully demonstrated (Bradley and Hance, 1955, 1957). The production in man of a “parkinsoniansyndrome” by chlorpromazine and later phenothiazines has been taken as evidence of drug activity as a basal ganglion level (Kruse, 1957). More recent work suggests that chlorpromazine may act by depressing the collateral inflow into the reticular formation from the afferent pathways rather than the brain stem activating system itself (Key and Bradley, 1958).