The Effectiveness of Sodium Divalproate as an Adjuvant Therapy on the Improvement of Paranoid Schizophrenic Patients Receiving Haloperidol

Schizophrenia is a severe mental disorder that is a disease in the field of psychiatry. The aim of the research was to determine the effectiveness of sodium divalproate as adjuvant therapy on the improvement of paranoid schizophrenic patients given haloperidol. The research was an experimental study with a total number of 30 paranoid schizophrenic inpatients in RSKD of South Sulawesi Province. They were divided into control group who were only given haloperidol antipsychotics consisting of 15 patients and adjuvant therapy group consisting of 15 patients given haloperidol therapy and sodium valproate. Therapy response was assessed through positive PANSS score at the beginning of therapy, i.e. the first week of therapy and the second week of therapy. The data were analysed using statistical analysis. The results of the research indicate that there is no significant different value of the improvement of recurrent positive symptoms of paranoid schizophrenic between the control group and the adjuvant therapy group. Nevertheless, the adjuvant therapy group of sodium divalproate appears to have a better symptom improvement especially at the beginning of therapy, which means that this group more rapidly experiences clinical response than the control group.