Subjective neuroleptic response and treatment outcome under open and double-blind conditions--a preliminary report

1. A patient's early subjective response to a neuroleptic was recorded in 17 schizophrenic patients following a fixed dose of neuroleptic under both open and double-blind placebo-controlled conditions. 2. High correlations were found between a patient's subjective response at 2.5, 24 and 48 hours after the initial dose, suggesting that the timing of the initial subjective response rating is not critical. 3. The relationship between the psychiatric improvement and subjective response was not significant under double-blind conditions (r = 0.004), while the relationship under the open condition showed a trend towards significance comparable to earlier reports (r = 0.32). 4. The findings question the usefulness of applying early subjective response to a neuroleptic to predict clinical improvement.