Management of hostile, suspicious patients. Trifluoperazine versus haloperidol

In a population of hostile suspicious patients mostly fitting into the paranoid schizophrenic category, haloperidol and trifluoperazine when compared in double-blind fashion were equal in global clinical ratings. Haloperidol showed significantly more improvement on the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale and on the Global Paranoia rating. On the Global Hostility rating and in speed of onset of activity, the effects of the two drugs were not significantly different. In a small sub-sample of extremely uncooperative patients haloperidol showed marked effects, but trifluoperazine showed only minimal or moderate effects.