Antipsychotic Med Research Paper

Covers, C. (2009). Second-generation versus first-generation antipsychotic drugs for Schizophrenia. Retrieved March 16, 2011 from

With any medication prescribed it is the duty of the prescriber an any mental health professional working directly with that client to provide them with as much psychoeducation as possible. It is vital that the client understands the benefits and risks of the medication. FUrthermore, it is vital for the client to understand that the client must be willing to commit to the process of finding the correct cocktail if you will.

Antipsychotics are medications that physicians use to treat psychotic disorders such as Schizophrenia, Delusional disorder, Paraphrenia, and Substance-induced psychotic disorders. These disorders are characterised by the patient’s inability to make good judgments, think with a clear head, communicate effectively, relate to society, and understand reality. Antipsychotic drugs are also useful in the treatment of bipolar conditions that involve extreme cases of manic behaviour. Examples of these drugs include Thorazine and Trilafon. These drugs belong to a drug class called phenothiazines. They work by changing the actions of chemicals in the brain. The drugs can be beneficial, however, Steen et al. (2014) argue that the medicines have several harmful effects such as changes

As we have seen, treatment of schizophrenia with antipsychotic drugs can have impressive results in terms of decreasing active symptoms, although it does nothing to alleviate negative symptoms or to improve cognitive functioning. Unfortunately, this kind of treatment has the drawback of extremely serious and even fatal side-effects. Newer generation atypical antipsychotics offer more hope, as they can treat both active and negative symptoms, and also improve cognitive functioning. Moreover, they have fewer side-effects. However, treatment is complicated by the fact that results are unpredictable; and in addition the side-effects that they do have can be very serious, such as diabetes, which in itself is life-threatening. However, as the potential side-effects are known, the physician has leeway to choose a drug which is a good match for the patient’s clinical profile. Then, once the patient’s symptoms have been much alleviated with an appropriate newer generation atypical antipsychotic, the patient should be able to also benefit from a range of psychotherapeutic interventions. It is argued that this is the best treatment regime to choose, as it is likely to result in the greatest improvement in quality of life, coupled with the lowest risk of potentially devastating side-effects, or of death. This is likely to be better than utilizing cognitive behavioral therapy, the results of which are not reliably known – although research has certainly shown that it is less efficacious

A research study was conducted by Dr. Helen Kales and others as to whether or not antipsychotic drugs increased mortality rate in elderly dementia patients. In her article in The American Journal of Psychiatry, Kales concluded, “Antipsychotic medications taken by patients with dementia were associated with higher mortality rates than were most other medications used for neuropsychiatric symptoms.” According to Dr. Lyketos, who did a presentation about dementia patients, “A few neuropsychiatric symptoms in dementia patients include: depression, sundowning, anxiety, repetitious questioning, and sleep disturbance” (Lyketos). Sundowning is one of the most common symptoms and occurs when the patient suffers “increased confusion and agitation at cyclic

Schizophrenia is a life-long disorder that affects about one percent of the population (Mueser & McGurk, 2004). The cause of this mental illness is still unclear. Studies have suggested that Schizophrenia does not arise from one factor but from a combination of genetic, environmental, and social factors (Liddle, 1987). People diagnosed with Schizophrenia struggle to deal with a multitude of symptoms that make it difficult to function (Mueser & McGurk, 2004). Antipsychotic medications are a popular treatment of the symptoms of Schizophrenia (Mueser & McGurk, 2004). Research is constantly being done to develop these medications to enhance the quality of life of those diagnosed with Schizophrenia.

The symptoms of schizophrenia vary, however, they have been categorized as positive, negative, and cognitive symptoms. Positive symptoms may include hallucinations, delusions, and / or thought disorder. Hallucinations normally give a false perception of touch, smell, taste, and / or visit, those with this particular mental disorder often experience auditory hallucinations. Delusions are also a sign of schizophrenia. Open quotations delusions are beliefs that are not part of the person's culture and do not change. Quotation parentheses u.s. Department, print the seas, 2010. These may cause a person that has this disorder, to think or feel as if they are victims in imagine conspiracy. It is also shown that they believe they are being controlled

Schizophrenia is a mental disorder characterized with severe, chronic, and potentially disabling thought disorder (American Psychiatric Association, 2013). Antipsychotic drugs are the primary use of treatment for schizophrenic disorders (Kane, 1987). Some of the common used psychotropic medications used to treat schizophrenia are: haloperidol, risperidone, aripiprazole, olanzapine, trifluoperazine, perphenazine, quetiapine, thioridazine, chlorpromazine, and clozapine. Antipsychotics like FGAs and SGAs are can be administered orally, in the form of a pill or liquid, or intravenously, by injections. Like with oral forms of antipsychotics, injections offer side effects too. These side effects vary but are very much alike to those of the matching drugs in oral form, though added mild or infrequent injection-related side effects can occur such as: pain, skin thickening, and nodules (Haddad & Fleischhacker, 2011). Antipsychotics administered by injection is one approach to managing nonadherence, although this approach does not work for all patients. Additionally, a proportion of patients who start on injections, later, do not continue with treatment. One study found more than half of patients who began risperidone (Risperdal) injections, stopped after 6 months of treatment (Taylor et al., 2004). With injections, patient nonadherence can be due to the personal characteristics, dosage range, initial startup, administration of the drug, and monitoring. The dosage range for each

Antipsychotics are primarily used to manage the symptoms of psychosis, particularly schizophrenia and bipolar disorder by blocking D2 receptors in the dopamine pathway of the brain. There are two main types of antipsychotics; typical antipsychotics, also known as the first generation antipsychotics (FGA) which were developed in 1950s, example of medicine in this category include Chloropromazine, Haloperidol, Flupenthixol, and Loxapine. Atypical antipsychotics, also referred as second generational antipsychotics (SGA) which acts as an antagonist for 5HT2A receptor aside from its blocking effect on D2 receptor, drugs in this class include Olanzapine, Quetiapine, Risperidone, Clozapine and Aripiprazole.

Schizophrenia is universally considered to function on a neurological level, with various studies claiming that several different types of neurotransmitters are thought to contribute to the manifestation of schizophrenia in the brain (Carlton, 1984). These findings have encouraged the development of various hypotheses for the cause of schizophrenia, one of these includes the dopamine theory (Carlton, 1984). The theory originated out of research on the dopamine-blocking actions of initial antipsychotic drugs (Moncrieff, 2009). Pharmacological studies researching the use of drugs to treat schizophrenia found that, drugs which decrease dopaminergic activity in the brain such as, Clozapine and Haloperidol, are considered to be antipsychotics, whilst

Clearly, this is a very serious disorder, which is often utterly incapacitating. Therefore, individuals urgently require efficacious treatment, both for survival and for quality of life, and many different kinds of treatment and therapy are used. This paper will examine the use of two of these, cognitive behavioral therapy and drug therapy, and evaluate which one is better. It will take the position that drug therapy is a more effective therapy for treating schizophrenia than is cognitive behavioral therapy.

I chose to write my research paper over Schizophrenia. It is a psychological disorder that I have always found fascinating. It is a serious disorder that consumes a person's life and is nearly impossible to control. In this paper, I will talk about the definition of Schizophrenia, the diagnosis of Schizophrenia, Schizophrenia in children, suicide, sexually related characteristics of the disease, sleep disorders caused by the disease, differences in the disease on different ethnicities, and insensitivity to pain.

According to the American Psychological Association (APA), psychopharmacology is a specialization that focus on the scientific practice of using medication, biological concepts and behavioral theories for therapy. The APA also states that this field involves neuroscience, pharmacology, psychopathology, physical assessments, lab examinations, clinical pathophysiology and pharmacotherapuetics.

Antipsychotic medication in dementia patients are linked to sudden cardiac death syndrome. This syndrome is a result of antipsychotics effect on the hearts QT interval. The QT interval is the measure of the heart's electrical cycle. This interval represents ventricular depolarization and repolarization. According to Narang et al (2010), Antipsychotics both typical and atypical increase the hearts QT intervals. A longer QT interval predisposes a person to arrhythmias or improper heartbeat, consequently increasing the risk for Sudden death syndrome. Elderly patients on antipsychotic therapy have double the risk for cardiac death, with this number increasing with age and the dosage prescribed (Narang et

CBT for schizophrenia also stresses skill-oriented treatments. Patients learn skills to cope with life's challenges. The therapist teaches social, daily functioning, and problem-solving skills. This can help patients with schizophrenia minimalize the types of stress that can lead to outbursts and