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Advances in Psychiatric Treatment (2001) 7: 160
© 2001 The Royal College of Psychiatrists

Correspondence

Jean Stubbs1 and Christopher Mountjoy2

1 Head of Pharmacy,
2 Consultant Psychiatrist, Department of Pharmacy, St Andrew's Hospital, Billing Road, Northampton NN1 5DG


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Pseudoakathisia, akathisia and gender
 
Gervin & Barnes (2000) presented an overview of drug-related movement disorders and a brief standardised examination for their assessment. We were interested to be reminded of the presentation of pseudoakathisia and the suggestion that the condition seems to be more common in males. Halstead et al (1994) reported this association, although the difference was not statistically significant. In a study of the prevalence of akathisia in 64 patients with mental disorder at St Andrew's Hospital, we found that all four patients with pseudoakathisia were male, but of the 14 patients with akathisia, nine were female (Stubbs et al, 2000). However, most epidemiological studies have not revealed any gender differences in vulnerability to akathisia itself.

A difference in susceptibility of the genders to developing akathisia and pseudoakathisia raises intriguing questions on the interrelationship between the two akathisia subgroups (Stubbs & Halstead, 2000).


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References
 
  1. Gervin, M. & Barnes, T. R. E. (2000) Assessment of drug-related movement disorders in schizophrenia. Advances in Psychiatric Treatment, 6, 332–341.[Free Full Text]
  2. Halstead, S. M., Barnes, T. R. E. & Speller, J. C. (1994) Akathisia: prevalence and associated dysphoria in an in-patient population with chronic schizophrenia. British Journal of Psychiatry, 164, 177–183.[Abstract/Free Full Text]
  3. Stubbs, J. H. & Halstead, S. M. (2000) Pseudoakathisia: a review and two case reports. Comprehensive Psychiatry, 41, 70–72.[Medline]
  4. Stubbs, J. H., Hutchins, D. A. & Mountjoy, C. Q. (2000) Relationship of akathisia to aggressive and self-referral centre. International Journal of Psychiatry in Clinical Practice (in press).




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