Dose-reduction process
dose-reductions
The rationale and details of the dose-reduction algorithm were also detailed in previous papers [Importantly, patients received instructions regarding suspected symptoms of relapse during tapering, the possibility of a need to resume a rescue dose, and how to call for help when not sure about their subjective changes. In such cases, extra return visits were arranged and patients were supervised to resume doses at the previous level if experiencing suspected signs of relapse. If any one of the 3 positive symptoms and 2 general symptoms in the inclusion criteria could not be stabilized within 1 week (i.e., scores >3) under their baseline antipsychotic dose, the patient would be treated with a higher dose and designated as having a relapse. If maintained stable under a reduced dose for 24 weeks, patients were empowered with a shared decision-making process regarding whether they wished to try another dose reduction or not. Patients could decide to stay at the current dose for a more extended time if feeling not ready for further dose tapering at the designated timepoint.The subsequent dose reduction was a reiteration of the previous step, cutting off one-quarter of the current dose, yielding 9/16 (3/4 × 3/4) of the baseline dose (in a hyperbolic manner), rather than cutting off another 1/4 of the baseline dose (in a linear manner), as the latter would result in reducing 1/2 (1/4 + 1/4) of the baseline dose after two dose-reductions and end at zero by employing four dose reducing steps, while the first formula, (3/4)