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Comments on the Northwick Park ‘Functional’ Psychosis Study

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

G. M. Goodwin ,
D. A. W. Johnson  and
R. G. McCreadie
G. M. Goodwin
Affiliation:
MRC Brain Metabolism Unit, Royal Edinburgh Hospital, Morningside Park, Edinburgh EH10 5HF
D. A. W. Johnson
Affiliation:
University Hospital of South Manchester, Manchester M20 8LR
R. G. McCreadie
Affiliation:
Crichton Royal Hospital, Dumfries DG1 4TG
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Abstract

“Functional psychosis is conventionally subdivided into schizophrenia and manic depressive psychosis. Response to treatment is assumed to be a validating criterion for these diagnoses. The efficacy of pimozide (a dopamine antagonist neuroleptic), lithium, and a combination of the two was compared with that of placebo in a 4-week trial in 120 functionally psychotic patients, each of whom was assessed for psychotic symptoms, manic symptoms, and depressive symptoms. The sample was subdivided into patients with predominantly elevated mood, predominantly depressed mood, and no consistent mood change. Pimozide reduced psychotic symptoms in all groups of patients. The only significant effect of lithium was to reduce elevated mood. Thus dopamine blockade seems relevant to the resolution of psychotic symptoms in all types of ‘functional’ psychosis, but the mode of action of lithium in psychotic patients concerns only mood. Application of standardised classifications of functional psychosis to these data did not change this conclusion.”

Type
The Current Literature
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 154 , Issue 3 , March 1989 , pp. 406 - 409
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1989 

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