EFFECTS OF CHLORDIAZEPOXIDE IN SEVERELY DISTURBED OUTPATIENTS

Of 73 outpatients with predominantly psychotic diagnoses the results of Librium therapy were excellent in 39 and good in 11. The drug relieved symptoms of anxiety, phobias, obsessive thinking and compulsive behavior, exogenous depressions, and conversion reactions. Librium was less effective in manic-depression, psychotic depressions and paranoid-type schizophrenia. Slight and transient side effects, mainly drowsiness and ataxia, occurred in a few cases. Patients with a long history of illness and hospitalization, who had not responded to previous medication with one or several of the phenothiazines, showed marked improvement under Librium therapy.