The Effectiveness of Psychotherapy Alone and in Conjunction With Perphenazine or Placebo in the Treatment of Neurotic and Hyperkinetic Children

Pediatric patients with neurotic and hyperkinetic reaction patterns have been treated experimentally on one of 3 schedules: (a) brief psychotherapy, (b) brief psychotherapy plus placebo, (c) brief psychotherapy plus perphenazine. Analysis of the clinical response rates has led us to the following conclusions: 1. Children with neurotic symptomatology show a prompt and enduring response to a brief program of psychotherapy at a level of improvement (60-70%) that is significantly greater than that attained by children with hyperkinetic syndromes (15-40%). 2. No evidence was obtained for any enhancement of the response to brief psychotherapy from the addition of placebo medication. 3. We were unable to demonstrate a significant difference between response to placebo and to perphenazine when administered concomitantly with psychotherapy. The implications of these findings have been discussed.