The use of antipsychotic medication in long-term care.

This brief review frames the historical context surrounding antipsychotic medication for patients in nursing homes and other long-term care settings. The information is meant to describe, concisely, the evidence for and against the use of antipsychotic treatment. Every patient’s experience is distinctive, and each treatmentdecision has potential benefits and risks. The first antipsychotic medication approved for use in the United States was chlorpromazine. In the 1950s, the use of chlorpromazine allowed for deinstitutionalization of millions of residents from psychiatric hospitals. In the ensuing five decades, antipsychotics in the “first generation” with chlorpromazine and the “second generation,” beginning with clozapine, have been in and out of favor for patients in long-term care.