Mental disturbances during bromocriptine and lergotrile treatment of Parkinson's disease

Two main conclusions emerge from the authors' observations. First, lergotrile and bromocriptine, like other drugs that facilitate dopaminergic activity, can in some patients act as specific psychotomimetic agents producing paranoid schizophreniform psychoses. This particular finding constitutes additional support for the hypothesized role of dopaminergic overactivity in schizophrenia. Second, these drugs, like many other agents, can also produce in some patients a non-specific organic confusional syndrome, with age and preexisting dementia as predisposing factors.