Fluphenazine decanoate dose and severity of depression in patients with post-psychotic depression

The authors examined the fluphenazine decanoate dose and the fluphenazine plasma levels in comparison with measures of severity of depression in schizophrenic and schizoaffective patients. All patients were selected for study on the basis of having stable, syndromally defined, antiparkinsonian non-responsive syndromes of post-psychotic depression. No meaningful relationships were found. The implications of this observation with regard to the notion that depressive symptomatology in such patients is neuroleptic-induced is discussed.