Antipsychotics - formerly known as neuroleptics - main class of drug to treat people with schizophrenia
Cab help to reduce and control positive symptoms
Fall into two categories of conventional and atypical antipsychotics
Modification based upon the medical model and the biochemical theory of dopamine hypothesis
Aims to reduce the amount of dopamine in the brain due to an overactive dopamine system being assumed to be the cause of hallucinations and delusions experienced during psychosis
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Conventional - 2nd Paragragh
Also known as 'first generation ' - developed in the 1950s such as chlorpromazine
Works by blocking the postsynaptic neuron and preventing dopamine from stimulating receptor sites
By affecting this neurotransmission, it acts primarily as a dopamine antagonist of D2 receptor sites but also blocks other receptor subtypes such as D1, D2, D3, and D5
this reduction in dopamine in the synapse combined with the blockade offered by antipsychotics leads to a substantial decrease in neural activity and seen as responsible for the decline in positive symptoms like delusions and hallucinations
By 1970, 85% of patients in state psychiatric hospitals were receiving chlorpromazine as the preferred method of treatment
Soon followed by Proxilixin, Haldol, and Loxopine - generally higher potency than chlorpromazine and could be given as an injection rather than orally in order to stabilise the schizophrenics symptoms and modify the disorder,
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Atypical - 3rd paragraph
Also known as 'second generation' - developed in the 1990s
acts as a dopamine antagonist which means they impede dopamine messages in the brain by only temporarily occupying the receptors and rapidly dissociating to allow normal dopamine transmission.
By targeting the abnormal dopamine signals as well as influencing levels of serotonin in the brain it can help to decrease the severity of symptoms for schizophrenics
Most well known atypical antipsychotic - Clozapine - known to be very effective in rebalancing dopamine and serotonin to improve thinking, mood, and behaviour in schizophrenics - also tend to work quicker than conventional - this can be important in the long term management of modifying the symptoms of schizophrenia
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Prescription - 4th paragraph
The length of time antipsychotics prescribed is dependent on condition of the patient being treated
For example, if the patient only has a single schizophrenic episode, there is a 25% chance of non-reoccurrence, so continued use of drugs in some cases might be unnecessary
For patients who experience multiple schizophrenic episodes, an increase in dosage over a short period can help to level overactive feelings out and help to increase the patients quality of life by modifying the symptoms so they can experience relatively normal lives
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