This study examined the relationship between premorbid asocial adjustment and response to phenothiazine treatment. The sample consisted of 88 hospitalized schizophrenic patients who were randomly assigned to either placebo or chlorpromazine and treated on a fixed-dosage increment schedule, under double-blind conditions for six weeks.
Results support the hypothesis that response to phenothiazine treatment differs between asocial and nonasocial patients. Chlorpromazine had consistently positive effects in reducing psychopathology among nonasocial patients. However, among asocial patients chlorpromazine showed both positive and negative effects.
Chlorpromazine's negative effects were significantly greater among asocial as compared to nonasocial patients, while its positive effects were significantly greater among nonasocial than asocial patients.