High dose diazepam in schizophrenia

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Abstract
The pharmacological properties and the equivocal antipsychotic effects of diazepam reported in the literature suggested the use of high doses of this drug on schizophrenic patients to re-evaluate its usefulness. Treatment of 15 schizophrenic patients with doses of up to 400 mg/day showed a specific effect on hallucinations and certain forms of delusion. One group (nine patients with paranoid-hallucinatory and one with schizo-affective psychosis) showed a significant reduction in psychopathology as documented in the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS) and the Global Clinical Impressions (GCI), whereas five other patients (all of the schizo-affective type with symptoms of depression, euphoria, and/or psychotic anxiety) did not respond and had to be withdrawn from the study. Under the treatment an absence of sedative effects and a development of the feeling of well-being and euphoria were noticed. In three patients with doses of over 260 mg/day a marked loss of inhibitions in sexual and social behaviour was observed. It is concluded that high doses of diazepam may be useful in certain types of schizophrenia.