antipsychotics

Antipsychotic Medication (Neuroleptics)

What Is Antipsychotic Medication?

Antipsychotic medication, otherwise known as neuroleptics, are mainly used in the treatment of disorders where there is an element of psychosis.

Some examples of these disorders include:

How Do They Work?

Antipsychotics can be split into two types; typical antipsychotics and atypical antipsychotics.

Both types work by altering the level of chemicals (called neurotransmitters) in the brain. These chemicals are the ones that are involved in transmitting impulses down the nerves in the brain. They tend to work at junctions between nerve fibres (called synapses). At these junctions the level of neurotransmitters is crucial in deciding whether an impulse carries on, or is stopped.

It is thought that in psychosis, the balance of neurotransmitters in the brain is wrong.

The particular name of the neurotransmitter that is affected by typical antipsychotics is dopamine. Atypical antipsychotics affect both dopamine and other neurotransmitters such as serotonin.

What Are The Possible Side-Effects?

Side-effects will be discussed as we consider each specific drug.

The Antipsychotics Available

Medicines tend to have more than one name. They have a general name (called the non-proprietary name), and a name given to them by the drug company that makes them (called the proprietary name). This can be very confusing, so we will list the antipsychotics by writing the non-proprietary name first, followed by the propriatary names in brackets. Just Click on the antipsychotic that interests you.

Typical Antipsychotics	Atypical Antipsychotics
Chlorpromazine (Largactil) Droperidol (Droleptan, Thalamonal) Flupenthixol (Depixol, Fluanxol) Fluphenazine (Modecate, Moditen, Motipress, Motival) Haloperidol (Haldol, Serenace) Thioridazine (Melleril) Trifluoperazine (Stelazine, Parstelin) Zuclopenthixol (Clopixol)	Clozapine (Clozaril) Olanzapine Risperidone

* RECOMMENDED BOOKS *

If you are interested in going into even more depth, the following book(s), sold by Amazon.co.uk, are recommended by us. Each is followed by a rating for ease of reading (1-3).

1=Simple and Easy to comprehend.
2=More Complex but still a good read.
3=Very Complex, only for professionals/those studying to degree level.

British National Formulary (Mehta)

RATING SCORE = 3 This the standard reference book for professionals (nurses, doctors etc) who prescribe and give out medication.

Consumer's Guide To Psychiatric Drugs (Preston et al)

RATING SCORE = 2 Attempts to use straightforward, plain English, despite all the jargon that is around medication. Not a bad job at all!

The Complete Guide To Psychiatric Drugs: Straight Talk For Best Results (Drummond)

RATING SCORE = 2 Another good attempt to simplify medication so that most of us can at least try to understand.

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