Drug therapy

• Typical antipsychotics

  Developed in the 1950s

  Less used now due to their side effects- dizziness, blurred vision

  Help relive positive symptoms

  Act upon dopamine receptors
• Antipsychotics

  Act on both serotonin and dopamine receptors

  Introduced in 1970s

  Can treat both negative and positive symptoms but can also have severe side effects
• strengths

  More affective for positive symptoms e.g hallucinations

  Successful for a large number of patients with schizophrenia allowing them to live normal lives rather than in a psych ward etc

  Widely used alongside any other treatements
• Weakness

  Not effetive for negative symptoms

  Ethical issues

  Side effects- dizziness, blurred vision

  Long term side effects- increased risk of diabetes

  Treats the symptoms but not the cause