School avoidance and social phobia triggered by haloperidol in patients with Tourette's disorder.

Fifteen patients with Tourette's disorder developed school and work avoidance syndromes when treated with low doses (mean 2.5 mg/day) of haloperidol for short periods of time (mean, 8 weeks). The phobic syndromes disappeared completely with discontinuation or reduction of the haloperidol dose. Haloperidol's effects on dopaminergic functioning support a role for catecholamines in the pathogenesis of phobic syndromes. It is not known whether phobias are precipitated by haloperidol only in patients with Tourette's disorder as a consequence of the specific metabolic alterations in this disorder or are a medication side effect in other psychiatric disorders as well.