Different Effects of Trifluoperazine when Administered Daytime or Night

The neuroleptics which are very effective in chronic schizophrenia, such as fluphenazine, thiothixene and haloperidol, have both central ‘inhibitory’ and 'stimulatory’ properties (Itil et al., 1969, 1970). When chronically administered in low dosages, these compounds decrease Stage 4 of the sleep process and produce insomnia, while in high dosages they produce deeper sleep stages. Based on these observations and the fact that extrapyramidal symptoms usually do not occur during deep sleep, we hypothesized that high oral doses of trifluoperazine given at night would produce fewer sleep disturbances and extrapyramidal symptoms than the same dosages of this compound administered during the morning.