For its management , experts agreed in considering  verbal de-escalation  and  environmental modification techniques  as first choice , considering physical restraint as a last resort strategy .
BACKGROUND Psychomotor agitation is associated with different psychiatric conditions and represents an important issue in psychiatry .
Current recommendations on agitation in psychiatry are not univocal .
Actually , an improper assessment and management may result in unnecessary coercive or sedative treatments .
A thorough and balanced review plus an expert consensus can guide assessment and treatment decisions .
A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, study of the efficacy and safety of aripiprazole 10, 15 or 20 mg/day for the treatment of patients with acute exacerbations of schizophrenia.
This double-blind , multicenter study aim ed to investigate the efficacy and safety of aripiprazole 10 , 15 or 20 mg/day versus placebo . Patients requiring inpatient hospitalization for acute exacerbation of schizophrenia were r and omized to once-daily aripiprazole 10 , 15 or 20 mg/day or placebo for 6 weeks . The primary efficacy outcome was the mean change from baseline to Week 6 in the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale ( PANSS ) Total score ( last observation carried forward ) . Patients with no improvement by Week 3 ( Clinical Global Impression-Global Improvement score > or = 4 ) could transfer to open-label aripiprazole 20mg/day . In total , 420 patients were r and omized to placebo ( n = 108 ) ; aripiprazole 10 mg/day ( n = 106 ) ; 15 mg/day ( n = 106 ) ; or 20 mg/day ( n = 100 ) . Of these , 142 patients ( 34 % ) completed 6 weeks of treatment , 131 ( 31 % ) discontinued to receive open-label aripiprazole , and 147 ( 35 % ) for other reasons . Aripiprazole 10 , 15 and 20 mg/day each showed significantly greater improvements from baseline than placebo for all efficacy measures , including PANSS Total , Positive and Negative scores , and the CGI-Severity of Illness score . Significantly greater improvements in PANSS Total score versus placebo were achieved by Week 1 with 10 or 20 mg/day and Week 3 with 15 mg/day . All three doses were well tolerated . Overall , aripiprazole was not associated with clinical ly meaningful differences in extrapyramidal symptoms , prolactin or weight changes versus placebo . Aripiprazole 10 mg/day is effective and well tolerated for patients experiencing an acute exacerbation of schizophrenia
For its management , experts agreed in considering  verbal de-escalation  and  environmental modification techniques  as first choice , considering physical restraint as a last resort strategy .
BACKGROUND Psychomotor agitation is associated with different psychiatric conditions and represents an important issue in psychiatry .
Current recommendations on agitation in psychiatry are not univocal .
Actually , an improper assessment and management may result in unnecessary coercive or sedative treatments .
A thorough and balanced review plus an expert consensus can guide assessment and treatment decisions .