WITHDRAWAL-EMERGENT DYSKINESIA IN PATIENTS WITH SCHIZOPHRENIA DURING ANTIPSYCHOTIC DISCONTINUATION

We examined whether patients exhibiting withdrawal-emergent dyskinesia (WE-D) represent a group vulnerable to subsequent development of tard ive dyskinesia (TD). WE-D was defined as model-ate abnormal movements during antipsychotic withdrawal in persons without persistent TD, We a ssessed patients with schizophrenia-spectrum illness participating in withdrawal from antipsychotic medication, Patients with WE-D were comp ared to those without dyskinesia and to those with persistent TD. Clin ical measures included duration of illness and antipsychotic exposure, negative symptoms, and neurologic soft signs. We hypothesized that WE -D patients would not differ from persistent-TD patients across the ab ove variables, but would differ from non-TD patients, Patients without TD significantly differed from persistent TD in duration of illness, medication exposure and neurologic soft signs. WE-D did not differ fro m TD across these measures. No-TD patients also showed less duration o f medication exposure and neurologic soft signs than those with WE-D.