Dr. Lindenmayer Replies

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Sir: In his letter to the editor, Dr. Murphy opines against theuse of a first-generation antipsychotic as a comparator in ourstudy,¹ stating that "the mean dose of haloperidol used (17.11mg) invariably induces secondary negative symptoms."However, there is little evidence that haloperidol systematicallyinduces secondary negative symptoms. In fact, 2recent studies^2,3 comparing the effects of olanzapine, a secondgenerationantipsychotic with a very benign extrapyramidalsymptom profile, with haloperidol at doses similar to those usedin our study combined with benztropine found no significantdifferences for positive or negative symptoms in schizophreniabetween the 2 antipsychotics. ‘ ‹