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CASE REPORT article

Front. Psychiatry
Sec. Psychopathology
Volume 15 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2024.1533350
This article is part of the Research Topic The Heterogeneity of Psychiatric Symptoms and Disorders View all 13 articles

Treatment of a Schizophrenia Patient on Long-Term Super-Dose Antipsychotics: A Case Report

Provisionally accepted
Xiaobo Xie Xiaobo Xie Jinzhang Chen Jinzhang Chen Hongli Song Hongli Song Zebin Fan Zebin Fan *
  • Department of Psychiatry, The Fifth People’s Hospital of Xiangtan City, Xiangtan, Hunan, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Introduction: Clozapine and chlorpromazine are widely used for treating schizophrenia. However, irregular medical follow-ups are common in patients with schizophrenia, potentially leading to long-term super-dose medication. Managing such cases poses significant challenges for clinical psychiatrists. Case presentation: This report describes a 24-year-old Han Chinese male diagnosed with schizophrenia who had been taking long-term super-doses of clozapine (18–107 tablets/day, 25 mg/tablet) and chlorpromazine (7–40 tablets/day, 50 mg/tablet) for five months due to irregular medical follow-ups. Upon hospitalization, the doses of antipsychotic drugs were gradually tapered, and the medication regimen was adjusted based on the patient’s previous treatment history. Comprehensive health education about schizophrenia was also provided. The patient was followed for four years, during which his psychiatric symptoms remained under partial control. Conclusion: Clinicians must consider individual differences in the efficacy and adverse effects of antipsychotics and weigh the benefits and risks of combination therapy. Future efforts should focus on strengthening health education for patients with schizophrenia and their families to improve treatment compliance and outcomes.

    Keywords: Clozapine, Chlorpromazine, Antipsychotics, Schizophrenia, case report

    Received: 23 Nov 2024; Accepted: 23 Dec 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Xie, Chen, Song and Fan. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Zebin Fan, Department of Psychiatry, The Fifth People’s Hospital of Xiangtan City, Xiangtan, Hunan, China

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