Letter to the Editor
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2022. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Psychiatry. Mar 19, 2022; 12(3): 533-535
Published online Mar 19, 2022. doi: 10.5498/wjp.v12.i3.533
Therapeutic use of melatonin in schizophrenia-more than meets the eye!
Ahmed Naguy
Ahmed Naguy, Al-Manara CAP Centre, Kuwait Centre for Mental Health (KCMH), Shuwaikh 22094, Kuwait
Author contributions: Naguy A wrote the manuscript.
Conflict-of-interest statement: Author declares no conflicts of interest or financial affiliations.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Ahmed Naguy, MBChB, MSc, Staff Physician, Al-Manara CAP Centre, Kuwait Centre for Mental Health (KCMH), Jamal Abdul-Nassir Street, Shuwaikh 22094, Kuwait. ahmednagy@hotmail.co.uk
Received: September 16, 2021
Peer-review started: September 16, 2021
First decision: November 8, 2021
Revised: November 8, 2021
Accepted: February 12, 2022
Article in press: February 12, 2022
Published online: March 19, 2022
Processing time: 182 Days and 16.2 Hours
Abstract

Adjunctive melatonin use in schizophrenia, as supported by a modicum of evidence, has multiple transcending chronobiotic actions, including fixing concurrent sleep problems to bona fide augmentative antipsychotic actions, mitigating the risk of tardive dyskinesias, curbing the drastic metabolic syndrome and ultimately providing neuroprotective actions. Its use is rather an art than science!

Keywords: Melatonin; Schizophrenia; Chronobiotic; Neuroprotectant; Antipsychotic; Tardive dyskinesia; Metabolic syndrome

Core Tip: Adjuventia melatonin use in schizophrenia is strongly recommended, although it is supported by a modicum of evidence. Its use has multiple transcending chronobiotic actions, rectifying sleep disturbance in schizophrenia to bona fide augmentative antipsychotic actions, mitigating the risk of relentless tardive dyskinesias, curbing the drastic cardio-metabolic syndrome and ultimately providing neuroprotective actions in the face of the neuroprogressive course of schizophrenia.