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Updated: Aug 14, 2026

A Computerized Test Battery to Study Pharmacodynamic Effects on the Central Nervous System of Cholinergic Drugs in Early Phase Drug Development
Published on: February 11, 2019
Thioridazine withdrawal-induced behavioral deterioration treated with clonidine: two case reports
1Habilitative Psychiatry Service, (Department of Psychiatry), New England Medical Center, Boston, MA 02111, USA.
Abstract:
Neuroleptic withdrawal reactions have significant clinical and medicolegal implications for individuals with developmental disabilities. Behavioral deterioration following neuroleptic taper can represent (a) relapse of a mental illness, (b) and anticholinergic rebound reaction, (c) tardive akathisia, and (d) possibly a supersensitivity psychosis. Such reactions may preclude the discontinuation of neuroleptic drug therapy, even in the absence of a drug-responsive psychiatric illness. In this report, the case histories of two individuals who experienced a thioridazine (Mellaril) withdrawal-induced behavioral deterioration were presented. Both reactions were characterized by anxiety and insomnia, and the patients' symptoms were relieved by uncontrolled treatment with clonidine (Catapres) therapy. Evidence for adrenergic hyperactivity as a mediating event was presented.
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