Outpatient use of a double-blind medication trial: a clinical example
Diamond, R.J.
Journal of Clinical Psychiatry 44(8): 304-305
1983
ISSN/ISBN: 0160-6689 PMID: 6874651 Document Number: 208052
It is often difficult to determine whether a patient's improvement following a trial of a new medication is based on pharmacologic or nonspecific factors. A chronic schizophrenic patient initially had a dramatic improvement in his behavior during an open trial of phenytoin, but a double-blind trial demonstrated that this was not a pharmacologic response. Such double-blind controlled trials can easily be carried out in outpatient settings.