The Effect of Clozapine on the Social Behaviour Schedule in Patients Attending a Forensic Psychiatry Day Hospital

Abstract

This study examined the difference in the functional capacity of patients receiving clozapine, compared with those prescribed other antipsychotic medication, who attend the forensic psychiatry day hospital at Murray Royal Hospital, Perth. (This facility caters for 34 patients. It provides a number of advantages such as access to therapies and supervision of mental state and medication at this critical time in the care pathway.)

This study was cross-sectional in nature and examined the patients' demographic details, diagnosis and medication. A functional assessment was carried out using the social behaviour schedule (SBS) for each patient.

We discovered that there was a marked difference in the hostility scores between clozapine patients and non-clozapine patients. Only 10.5% of clozapine patients had a severe score (more than two) on the SBS whereas 61.5% of those not receiving clozapine had a severe score. The non-clozapine group had more socially unacceptable habits and were more destructive than patients receiving clozapine, as scored by the SBS. The slowness and under-activity items were more severe in the clozapine patients. The non-clozapine group scored higher in the category of other behaviours that might impede progress, particularly drug-taking.