A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study was conducted to assess the efficacy of
risperidone in the treatment of
developmental stuttering in 16 adults. Eight subjects received placebo and eight received
risperidone at 0.5 mg once daily at night, increased to a maximum of 2 mg/day. After 6 weeks of treatment, decreases in all measures of
stuttering severity were greater in the
risperidone group than in the placebo group; the between-treatment difference was significant (p < 0.05) on the most important measure, the percentage of syllables stuttered. In the
risperidone group, reductions from baseline in scores for the percentage of syllables stuttered, time
stuttering as a percentage of total time speaking, and overall
stuttering severity were significant (p < 0.01); changes in scores on the fourth measure of
stuttering, duration, were not significant. No significant decreases occurred in the placebo group. Among the eight patients in the
risperidone group, five responded best to 0.5 mg/day, with
stuttering recurring at higher doses. The remaining three patients responded better with increasing doses of
risperidone.
Risperidone was generally well tolerated. The results of this small study indicate that
risperidone may be effective in the treatment of
developmental stuttering. This finding needs to be confirmed in a larger trial.