Biological treatments for schizophrenia

• Explain biological treatments for schizophrenia

  Biological treatments for schizophrenia center around drug therapies whereby patients with schizophrenia are prescribed antipsychotic drugs. These antipsychotic drugs can be typical or atypical but their general function is to lower dopamine activity. Antipsychotic drugs, the most common treatment for schizophrenia, are therefore based on the dopamine hypothesis which suggests a dysfunction in dopamine as a cause for schizophrenia.
• What are Typical antipsychotics

  Typical antipsychotic drugs were first developed in the 1950s. They include drugs such as chlorpromazine. These drugs are referred to as dopamine antagonists because they reduce dopamine activity.
• How do Typical antipsychotics work?

  Typical antipsychotic drugs work by blocking (but not stimulating) D2 post-synaptic receptors. In turn, this prevents dopamine from binding to D2 receptors and exerting their excitatory effects.
• How does typical SCZ treat schizophrenia?

  Typical antipsychotics reduce positive symptoms such as hallucinations and have a calming/sedative effect. They can therefore be highly beneficial when patients are first admitted to hospitals and are very anxious.
• What are Aypical antipsychotics

  Atypical antipsychotics are a newer line of antipsychotic drugs that have been used to treat schizophrenia from the 1970s. They include drugs such as risperidone and clozapine. Like typical antipsychotics, atypical antipsychotics are dopamine antagonists in that they reduce dopamine activity. However, they also act on other neurotransmitters such as serotonin.
• How do Aypical antipsychotics work?

  Atypical antipsychotic drugs work by blocking (but not stimulating) D2 post-synaptic receptors. In turn, this prevents dopamine from binding to D2 receptors and exerting their excitatory effects. However, they do notblock D2 receptors to the same extent as typical antipsychotics. This is because they block D2 receptors for a shorter period of time. Atypical antipsychotics also work by blocking (but not stimulating) serotonin receptors. In turn, this prevents serotonin from binding to their receptors and exerting their inhibitory effects.
• How do Atypical antipsychotics treat SCZ

  By reducing excitatory dopamine activity, atypical antipsychotics reduce positive symptoms of schizophrenia such as hallucinations and delusions. Also, by reducing inhibitory serotonin activity, atypical antipsychotics reduce

  negative symptoms of schizophrenia such as speech poverty.
• Evaluating biological treatments of schizophrenia

  • there is substantial evidence to support the effectiveness of antipsychotics in reducing schizophrenic symptoms
  • it could be argued that antipsychotics are palliative in that they only address the symptoms, not the cause
  • they produce side effects
  • they offer a cheaper and more readily available treatment option.