AO3

• A weakness is that drug therapy is not always appropriate

  -as sufferers may be liable to relapse after the drugs have been discontinued.

  -Sufferers can also get used to drug therapy, their bodies begin to compensate therefore dependency becomes an issue.

  -higher and higher doses are needed which is not only expensive but also dangerous
• Another weakness is the side effects of antipsychotics

  -e.g Weight gain, diabetes, sexual dysfunction

  -these side effects may result in people no longer taking the medication which can lead to relapse.

  -‘tardive dyskinesia’ is the most worrying which is an uncontrollable movement to the lips, tongue, face, hands and feet.
• What percentage of people taking antipsychotics develop this

  -30%

  -it is irreversible in 75% of patients.
• A strength is that antipsychotics both have strong

  -empirical support.

  -For example, Leucht et al. (2012) found in a meta-analysis that drug therapy was significantly more effective than placebo in reducing relapse rates and symptom severity.

  -This strengthens the reliability of drug therapy as a first-line treatment. However, around 20–40% of patients show only partial or no response, suggesting effectiveness is not universal.
• Another weakness is that Drug therapy treats symptoms but not underlying causes.

  -Psychological therapies (e.g., CBTp or family therapy) can address cognitive distortions and social factors, promoting coping strategies

  -drug therapy alone may be reductionist and most effective as part of a holistic, interactionist treatment approach.
• A strength is that  antipsychotic drugs successfully calm the effects of schizophrenia

  -they are also relatively cheap and easy to administer.

  -Silverman (1987) stated that antipsychotics have beneficial side effects for some people in increasing levels of attention and information processing

  - Chlorpromazine has been found to be effective in approximately 75% of schizophrenics (Kane, 1992).