Antipsychotics

Abstract

Antipsychotics are those psychiatric drugs primarily used for the treatment of psychosis, mainly schizophrenia. Since their introduction, they have been used in a host of indications, but apart from mood disorders and somatoform disorders or insomnia in some European countries, most non-psychosis uses are off-label. Antipsychotics are associated to serious adverse effects, which call for a careful use, especially in the elderly, a population characterized by pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic changes, and frailty. Clozapine, the gold standard antipsychotic, is probably the most difficult to use, but with a judicious use it can be safe and effective in the elderly.

Keywords: Agranulocytosis, Amisulpride, Aripiprazole, Clozapine, Early Onset Schizophrenia, Extrapyramidal symptoms, First-generation antipsychotics, Haloperidol, Long-acting injections, Metabolic syndrome, Mood stabilizer, Myocardiopathy, Neuroleptic malignant syndrome, Olanzapine, Phenotiazines, Psychotic symptoms, Quetiapine, Risperidone, Schizophrenia with Late Onset, Schizophrenia, Second-generation antipsychotics, Sedation, Somatoform disorder, Tardive dyskinesia, Violence.