Drug Therapy

• Typical antipsychotics have been shown to be effective. Thornley et al (2003) reviewed studies comparing the effects of chlorpromazine to control conditions where patients received a placebo. Data from 13 trials with 1121 patients showed that chlorpromazine was associated with better overall functioning and reduced symptom severity. Data from 3 trials with 512 patients also showed lower relapse rates with chlorpromazine. This shows that typical antipsychotics are effective in reducing schizophrenic symptoms.Lower relapse rates means less stress on the NHS in treating schizophrenia symptoms.  
• Atypical antipsychotics have been shown to be effective. Meltzer et al (2012) showed that clozapine is a more effective drug – it was effective in 30-50% of treatment-resistant cases when other antipsychotics have failed. This suggests that serotonin plays more of a role in schizophrenia than dopamine as atypical antipsychotics target both which typical only target dopamine.  
• One limitation of typical antipsychotics is that they can have fatal side effects. For example, they can cause neuroleptic malignant syndrome (NMS) as they can block dopamine to the hypothalamus. This limits their effectiveness as, although they may reduce schizophrenic symptoms, they can cause other side effects. This means they may not be appropriate treatments as patients may not want to take them out of fear of the potential side effects.  
• One strength of antipsychotics is that they are cost effective. It is much cheaper to produce antipsychotic drugs that to invest in non-biological therapies. In the US people may choose to take drugs rather than have therapy as therapy is very expensive in comparison with antipsychotics. This means people with schizophrenia can receive treatment without having to pay high prices for therapy.  
• A limitation of antipsychotics is that they do not cure schizophrenia but rather just help to manage the symptoms. It is believed that they have been used in hospitals to calm patients and make them easier to deal with, rather than because they benefit the patient. This removes the patient’s free will as they are being controlled through the use of antipsychotics. This could lead to patients stopping taking their medication if they do not feel they are in control. This could then lead to increased relapse rates, putting strain on the health service.  
• The evidence supporting drug therapies may not be entirely accurate. Healy (2012) found that evidence for drug therapies may be exaggerated or even reused. Most studies look at short term effects rather than long term, meaning we can’t look at effectiveness or withdrawal. This limits the support for drug therapies as we can’t predict how it will affect patients in the long-term meaning they may not actually benefit from the drugs over time.