Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-gvvz8 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-23T00:49:30.929Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

N-acetyl-p-amino-phenol (paracetamol, acetaminophen) in the treatment of acute schizophrenia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 July 2009

I. Falloon ,
D. C. Watt ,
K. Lubbe ,
A. Macdonald  and
Michael Shepherd
I. Falloon
Affiliation:
St John's Hospital, Stone, Institute of Psychiatry, London
D. C. Watt
Affiliation:
St John's Hospital, Stone, Institute of Psychiatry, London
K. Lubbe
Affiliation:
St John's Hospital, Stone, Institute of Psychiatry, London
A. Macdonald
Affiliation:
St John's Hospital, Stone, Institute of Psychiatry, London
Michael Shepherd*
Affiliation:
St John's Hospital, Stone, Institute of Psychiatry, London
*
1Address for correspondence: Professor Michael Shepherd, Institute of Psychiatry, De Crespigny Park, Denmark Hill, London SE5 8AF.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Synopsis

The hypothesis that schizophrenia is caused by the release of prostaglandin E into the hypothalamus and may sometimes be accompanied by an elevation of temperature was examined by a clinical trial of the prostaglandin E suppressant N-acetyl-p-amino-phenol (paracetamol, acetaminophen). Ten acute schizophrenic patients were included in a double-blind, crossover trial of paracetamol and a placebo, in which each treatment was given for a week. Regular 4-hourly temperatures were recorded in all these cases and in 5 non-schizophrenic patients for comparison. The findings provided no evidence that paracetamol mitigated the symptoms of schizophrenia. The temperatures of the schizophrenics were not elevated more than those of the controls, but the number of cases used was probably too small for this finding to be conclusive.

Type
Brief Communication
Information
Psychological Medicine , Volume 8 , Issue 3 , August 1978 , pp. 495 - 499
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1978

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Feldberg, W. (1974). Fever, prostaglandins and antipyretics. In Prostaglandin Synthetase Inhibitors (ed. Robinson, H. J. and Vane, J. R.), pp. 197–203. Raven Press: New York.Google Scholar
Feldberg, W. (1976). Possible association of schizophrenia with disturbance in prostaglandin metabolism: a physiological hypothesis. Psychological Medicine 6, 359–369.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gjessing, R. (1932, 1935, 1939). Beiträge zur Kenntnis der Pathophysiologic des katatonen Stupors. Mitteilung I–IV. Archiv für Psychiatrie (Berlin) 96, 318–392, 393–474; 104, 354–416; 109, 525–595.Google Scholar
Gjessing, R. (1953/1954). Beiträge zur Somatologic der periodischen Katatonie. Mitteilung V–VIII. Archiv für Psychiatrie und Nervenkrankheiten 191, 191–219, 220–246, 247–296, 297–326. (Referred to by Feldberg, 1976.)CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Krawiecka, M., Goldberg, D. P. & Vaughan, M. (1977). A standardized psychiatric assessment scale for rating chronic psychotic patients. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica 55, 299–308.Google ScholarPubMed
Honigfeld, G. & Klett, C. J. (1965). The Nurses Observation Scale for In-Patient Evaluation. Journal of Clinical Psychology 21, 65–71.3.0.CO;2-I>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Horrobin, D. F. (1977). Schizophrenia as a prostaglandin deficiency disease. Lancet i, 936–937.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Leff, J. P. (1976). Assessment of psychiatric and social state. British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology 3 (3), Supplement 2, 385–390.Google ScholarPubMed
McAllister, T. A. (1975). A single use clinical thermometer. Scottish Medical Journal 20, 301.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Scheid, K. F. (1937). Febrile Episoden bei Schizophrenen Psychosen. Georg Thieme: Leipzig.Google Scholar
Vane, J. R. (1974). Mode of action of aspirin and similar compounds. In Prostaglandin Synthetase Inhibitors (ed. Robinson, H. J. and Vane, J. R.), pp. 155–163. Raven Press: New York.Google Scholar
Wing, J. K., Cooper, J. E. & Sartorius, N. (1974). The Measurement and Classification of Psychiatric Symptoms. Cambridge University Press: London.Google Scholar