Biological treatment for schizophrenia

• Patients diagnosed with schizophrenia are most likely to be offered drug therapy as their form of treatment.
• Antipsychotic drugs are the main drug treatments for schizophrenia.
• There are two types of antipsychotic drugs: typical drugs and atypical drugs.
• What are typical drugs?


  • Typical drugs were found to block the D2 dopamine receptors - they are dopamine antagonists.
  • D2 receptors are found in many brain areas, but are particularly important in the mesolimbic pathway which is involved in the acquisition of positive symptoms of schizophrenia.
• What are the side effects of typical drugs?


  The side effects of typical drugs are weight gain, extrapyramidal symptoms, tardive dyskinesia and neuroleptic malignant syndrome.
• What are examples of typical drugs?


  Chlorpromazine, thorazine and haloperidol.
• What are atypical drugs?


  • Atypical antipsychotics were designed to overcome some of the limitations of typical drugs such as their extreme side effects.
  • Atypical drugs are partial antagonists of the D2 receptors, and can also have effects on other neurotransmitter receptors such as seretonin 2A receptors.
• What symptoms do atypical drugs target?


  Atypical drugs target positive symptoms but may also have an effect on negative symptoms.
• What are the side effects of atypical drugs?


  There are fewer side effects compared to typical drugs but still include weight gain and diabetes.
• What are some examples of atypical drugs?


  clozapine and olanzapine.
• Evaluation of drug therapy


  Research study:

  • Meltzer (2012) found that clozapine is more effective than typical antipsychotics. It reduced symptoms in 30-50% of patients who did not improve with typical antipsychotics.
• Evaluation of drug therapy:


  Practical applications.

  • patients can live independently without being institutionalize.
  • Economic implications - cost effective for the NHS, also more patients can return back to work and function normally which helps with economic stability.
• Evaluation of drug therapy:


  Effectiveness.

  • Drugs cause side effects in patients such as tardive dyskinesia, weight gain and nausea.
  • Sometimes the side effects prove to be worse than the condition itself.
• Evaluation of drug therapy:

  Reductionist.

  • Schizophrenia is a complex disease and so reducing the treatments down to one form is reductionist as it excludes others factors such as environmental influences and cognitive influences.