High-Dose Neuroleptics: Uncontrolled Clinical Practice Confirms Controlled Clinical Trials

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Abstract
The strategy of high-dose i.m. haloperidol as routinely applied in a general hospital psychiatric ward to 74 successive patients, 33 of whom stayed only up to 7 days and a further 34 up to 15 days, led to a complete recovery in 6 and complete lack of change in 23. Adverse reactions were recorded in 42, severe enough to stop treatment in 8; there were 3 deaths. In view of this risk-benefit analysis, systematic application of this high dose strategy to get a more rapid turnover of patients is unjustified.