Reduction of adventitious movements and compulsions during clomipramine treatment (25 mg - 200 mg daily at bedtime) in five prepubertal, autistic, retarded boys is reported from the Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Bellevue Hospital and New York University Medical Center, New York. Ratings were conducted before, after 2 and 4 weeks treatment, and every 4 weeks. All three classes of movements responded to medication: general dyskinesia, akathisia, and tics. Medications were administered in a nonblind trial in clinical emergencies to extremely disturbed patients with severe environmental and familial stresses. [1]

COMMENT. Medicated autistic patients frequently have akathisia and tics. The differentiation of various adventitious movements in a heterogeneous group of patients is difficult, and specificity of response to treatment is limited.