Antipsychotic medications had no effect, but the study design was problematic.
It is difficult to treat patients with aggressive behavior, but even more difficult to conduct controlled studies of pharmacologic treatment in this population. Impediments include recruitment of patients and reluctance to use placebo for potentially dangerous behaviors. Clinicians treat aggressive behavior in developmentally disabled patients with numerous pharmacotherapies, including beta-blockers; antipsychotics are the most common, but their suitability remains unknown.
In an international, multicenter study, researchers randomized 86 nonpsychotic, intellectually disabled adults with recent aggressive behavior and no recent antipsychotic use to daily risperidone (≤2 mg), haloperidol (≤5 mg), or placebo for 12 weeks (males, 59%–66% in eac…
Reviewing Author
DisclosuresRoyaltiesTextbook of Traumatic Brain Injury, 2nd and 3rd editions
Editorial BoardsUpToDate; Journal of Neuropsychiatry and Clinical Neuroscience
Leadership Positions in Professional SocietiesNorth American Brain Injury Association (Board Member); National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research (Chair of Data Monitoring Safety Board for study of donepezil on cognition after traumatic brain injury)
DisclosuresRoyaltiesTextbook of Traumatic Brain Injury, 2nd and 3rd editions
Editorial BoardsUpToDate; Journal of Neuropsychiatry and Clinical Neuroscience
Leadership Positions in Professional SocietiesNorth American Brain Injury Association (Board Member); National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research (Chair of Data Monitoring Safety Board for study of donepezil on cognition after traumatic brain injury)