To the Editor: Psychopathology is changed by antipsychotic-type medications, but Ruggero et al1 did not account for effects of exposure to medication on diagnosis. Diagnosis of functional disorders per DSM requires absence of medical effects—including effects from medications—that can cause or suppress disorder criteria contents. Antipsychotic-type drugs tend to suppress symptoms, including tho...

Antipsychotic polypharmacy in the treatment of schizophrenia is more common in China and other Asian countries than in Western countries. The reasons for this are unclear, but it may be related to an unsubstantiated belief among clinicians that multiple medications are more likely to achieve the desired clinical outcome. Antipsychotic medications are the mainstay of treatment for individuals wi...

For years, it has been known that the "onset" of the antipsychotic response is "delayed," and this notion is expressed in many major textbooks, informs clinical decisions and has even led to the search for biological markers responsible for this delayed onset. But is the onset of antipsychotic action really delayed? In this review, we bring together data from several recent studies of antipsych...

Monitoring gene expression has been intensively used to identify neurobiological and neuroanatomical substrates associated with administration of antipsychotic drugs. Transcription factors of the Nur family (Nurr1, Nur77, and Nor-1) are orphan nuclear receptors that have been recently associated with dopamine neurotransmission. Nurr1 is involved in midbrain dopamine neuron development. Nur77 an...

Although structural brain alterations in schizophrenia have been demonstrated extensively, their quantitative distribution has not been studied over the last 14 years despite advances in neuroimaging. Moreover, a volumetric meta-analysis has not been conducted in antipsychotic-naive patients. Therefore, meta-analysis on cross-sectional volumetric brain alterations in both medicated and antipsyc...

INTRODUCTION Antipsychotic drugs exert antipsychotic effects by blocking dopamine D2 receptors in the treatment of schizophrenia. However, effects of D2 receptor blockade on neurocognitive function still remain to be elucidated. The objective of this analysis was to evaluate impacts of estimated dopamine D2 receptor occupancy with antipsychotic drugs on several domains of neurocognitive functio...

Despite widespread agreement that nursing homes' use of antipsychotic medications for residents without specific psychiatric diagnoses is a marker of poor quality of care, prevalence remains high. Additionally, variation suggests continued opportunity to improve care even in countries, like the United States, that have long-standing policies designed to decrease antipsychotic medication use. In...

BACKGROUND Risperidone long-acting injectable (RLAI), the first second-generation depot antipsychotic, has extensively been studied before introduction. Thereafter, questions about the type of patients actually treated with RLAI in daily practice remain to be answered for making valid antipsychotic treatment comparisons involving RLAI in observational studies. OBJECTIVE We aimed to determine ...

Use of antipsychotic agents has been associated with hyperprolactinemia, or elevated prolactin levels; this hormonal abnormality can interfere with the functioning of reproductive, endocrine, and metabolic systems. As antipsychotic agents are increasingly used for both United States Food and Drug Administration-approved and nonapproved indications, many individuals are at risk for developing an...

SUMMARY Neuroleptic malignant syndrome (NMS) is a rare, life-threatening adverse reaction to antipsychotic medication that typically includes high-fever, extrapyramidal symptoms, autonomic nervous system dysfunction and disturbances in consciousness. Though reported to be more common following use of the older, first generation antipsychotic medications, it can also occur in patients taking the...