TREATMENT-RESISTANT SCHIZOPHRENIA - TETRABENAZINE AND RESERPINE - A CASE-STUDY

The patient (X) to be reported is a man now in his late twenties who i s detained in a Special Hospital on a hospital order under s.37 couple d with a restriction order under s.41 of the 1983 Mental Health Act. H e suffers from a chronic schizophrenic illness and had made no signifi cant progress on conventional antipsychotic medication, Risperidone, o r ECT. He had made considerable progress initially on Clozapine but su bsequently refused compliance and thereafter when he did comply it was unsuccessful in reducing the level of active psychosis. With the intr oduction of Tetrabenazine, partial sustained improvement has now occur red. As Tetrabenazine has a related chemical structure to Reserpine, a brief review of the use of Tetrabenazine and Reserpine is appropriate .