Haloperidol kinetics were determined after oral and intravenous drug doses in 15 men. Mean elimination t1/2 for the subjects was 17.9 +/- 6.4 (SD) hr. After 0.125 mg/kg IV, mean distribution t1/2s in six subjects were 0.19 +/- 0.07 and 2 +/- 1 hr, and in 12 subjects mean clearance was 11.8 +/- 2.9 ml/kg/min and mean steady-state volume of distribution was 17.8 +/- 6.5 l/kg. After 0.50-mg/kg oral doses in eight subjects, mean lag time before drug absorption was 0.82 +/- 0.25 hr. Mean absorption t1/2 was 0.37 +/- 0.18 hr and mean distribution t1/2 was 0.96 +/- 0.20 hr. Bioavailability was 0.65 +/- 0.14 after oral doses. In 14 kinetic studies in nine subjects, data was analyzed by both model-dependent (open two- and three-compartment models using nonlinear regression) and model-independent (AUC and first moment curve) approaches. Results of the two were found to be in close agreement. The long elimination t1/2 of haloperidol is explained by the drug's extensive tissue distribution.

Studies showing interference with color naming threat-related words in patients with anxiety disorders suggest a bias towards processing threatening material in these patients. We assessed the specificity of this finding to anxiety disorders and to threatening stimuli by administering Stroop cards with a variety of types of emotional stimuli to 24 panic disorder patients with no history of major depression, 30 patients with major depression and no history of panic attacks and 25 controls with no history of an axis I disorder. Our findings suggest that the abnormal information processing seen in panic disorder may be characterized by a more general bias towards processing emotional stimuli than previously thought. They also suggest that this more general bias may illustrate differences in information processing in panic disorder and major depression.

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