journalsPermissions.nav Therapeutic Advances in Psychopharmacology

Gabapentin enjoys a wide spectrum of psychop-harmacological and neuropharmacological indi-cations. Curiously, we found only a single article on the efficacy of gabapentin for treating neuro-leptic-induced akathisia [Pfeffer et al. 2005]. This is counterintuitive on theoretical and clinical grounds. Theoretically, gabapentin enhances the activity of gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA), an inhibitory neurotransmitter that would be pre-dicted to suppress the abnormal involuntary movements of akathisia. Clinically, gabapentin carries US Food and Drug Administration approval for restless legs syndrome (RLS), a neu-rological disorder. RLS and neuroleptic-induced akathisia are not identical conditions, but they ar