Among 1,000 psychiatric patients in a Veterans Administration hospital, there were 15 in the age group 21 −41 years who complained of difficulty at near and who showed reduced accommodation. All 15 were receiving benztropine mesylate (Cogentin) and most also received a phenothiazine or a butyrophenone. The reduction in accommodation ranged from 40 to 100%. Data are insufficient to correlate doses of specific drugs with the precise extent of the impairment of accommodation.