Outline and evaluate the biological therapies of Schizophrenia

This essay will outline and evaluate the biological therapies of drugs and Electroconvulsive therapy in terms of treating Schizophrenia.

Drugs are often the first line of treatment for Schizophrenia. Antipsychotic drugs are often used and the most common antipsychotic drug used is Phenothiazine. Phenothiazine produces a calming effect by blocking dopamine receptors in the brain. More recently, Clozapine has been used to treat Schizophrenia as it is seen to be more effective and has less side effects than older antipsychotic drugs.

A strength of the use if drugs to treat Schizophrenia is that they reduce the need for long term hospitalisation of Scizophrenia sufferers. Most Schizophrenics are now treated as outpatients. Drugs reduce the positive symptoms of Schizophrenia which reduces the need to stay in hospital in e long term although they are not a cure for Schizophrenia. Therefore this is strong evidence to suggest that antipsychotic drugs are effective in reducing the positive symptoms of Schizophrenia.

However a weakness of drug treatments is that they have little effect on the negative symptoms of Schizophrenia and therefore people still suffer from these. This is a weakness as it suggests that this type of treatment is not effective enough on its own, others may be needed.

The biggest problem with the use of drug treatments is the side effects that the patient can suffer, for example; dry mouth, dizziness and blurred vision. Due to some of the side effects most patients taking antipsychotic drugs stop taking them after a year and 75% after…