Antipsycotics are used to treat conditions like bipolar disorder and treat symptoms such as hallucinations that can occure during episodes of acute mania. Reasons why people stop taking antipsychotic medications can very person to person depending on the persons situations. Side effects is a large reason people stop taking their medications. Side effects of antipsychotics, such as weight gain, blured vision, dry mouth, and even tremors can occure. I could imagin how scary it could be to have some of those side effects come while taking a medication to treat a completly different condition. People sometimes stop because they are not seeing any benifits or improvement with their treatment. Antipsycotics generally take about 6 weeks to take
Clozapine is used on a limited basis because of the risk of agranullocytosis, where white blood cells are destroyed faster than they are produced, causing the individual to be prone to other illnesses. Two other drugs, either one typical and one atypical, or two atypical medications are used and deemed ineffective before clozapine is used due to the this serious side effect, agranullocytosis. Even thought this risk happens to be small, 1% to 2%, the drug is normally viewed in the psychiatric field as a method of last resort.(Kentridge, 1995) The most common explanation for what occurs in the brain of a schizophrenic is the dopamine hypothesis, where certain areas of the brain have excessive activity at certain dopamine receptors.(Kalat, 2004) This theory will be a reoccurring theme when explaining how clozapine interacts with the body.
Risperdal Risperidone is an atypical antipsychotic used to alleviate the symptoms of schizophrenia. Schizophrenia is defined by its effects in altering perception, thoughts, or consciousness called hallucinations or delusions. It affects about 1% of the population, with about 2 million people affected in the United States. About 50% of those affected become severely and permanently disabled and dependent upon public assistance. Schizophrenics make up about 10% of the totally disabled population and as much as 14% of the homeless.
The practice change in my project is to provide education and a screening tool for nurses to identify patients taking second-generation antipsychotics. When patients are identified early, proper monitoring can be established. Early treatments can be considered thus promote patient overall care outcome.
The use of psychotropic medication in children and adolescents dates back to 1937 when Charles Bradley conducted a study by prescribing the stimulant amphetamine sulphate (Benzedrine) to modify the behavior of children with severe behavioral disturbance. (Adams, 1991) Since these studies were conducted, more and more children and adolescents have been prescribed stimulants, antidepressants, antipsychotics, and mood stabilizers for various mental disorders, such as: depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, anxiety disorders, and attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). The potential side effects that happen to children taking these medications can include: fainting, blurred vision, vomiting, extreme weight gain, and even death ("Seroquel information,” n.d.).
Before antipsychotic drugs, people were locked away in asylums and in some cases doctors would use a surgical procedure for cutting nerve pathways in the frontal lobes of the brain, called lobotomy. Then around the 1950’s to the 1980’s, the first generation of antipsychotics was discovered. These drugs were developed because there was a lack of facilities for mental patients and very few people to care for these people. Apparently antipsychotic drugs are more humane for civilians with mental illnesses (Sue).
Studies have shown that people who abused substances need at least 3 months of treatment to significantly show signs of improvement. However, best results occur with longer treatment durations. Time to Change, where patients are referred by their physicians for substance abuse treatment in Lyndale Ave Bloomington Minnesota, affirms that if you have more time in treatment center, you have more time:
Second, the court must conclude that involuntary medication will significantly further those concomitant state interests. Third, the court must conclude that involuntary medication is necessary to further those interests. The court must find that any alternative, less intrusive treatments are unlikely to achieve substantially the same results. Fourth, as we have said, the court must conclude that administration of the drugs is medically appropriate, i.e., in the patient's best medical interest in light of his medical condition. The specific kinds of drugs at issue may matter here as elsewhere. Different kinds of antipsychotic drugs may produce different side effects and enjoy differen...
According to Gamble and Brennan (2000), the effectiveness of medication for schizophrenia to relieve patients from psychotic symptoms is limited. Although patients have adequate medication, some received little or no benefit from it and almost half of them still experience psychotic symptoms. They are also more likely to suffer relapse (Gamble and Brennan, 2000). Furthermore, Valmaggia, et al. (2005) found that 50% of patients who fully adhere to anti-psychotic medication regimes still have ongoing positi...
...ents from sleeping, patients may be prescribed anti-anxiety medications. As a last resort, doctors may use antidepressants in conjunction with mood stabilizers because using antidepressants solely could potentially make the manic moods more extreme.
There are several people every year that are diagnosed with a mental disorder. In the world’s entire population, more than one percent of people have been diagnosed with schizophrenia (Brain and Behavior Research Foundation). When thinking of the billions of people in the world, it might not seem like that many people but once the number of those diagnosed is calculated it seems much larger. Currently there are more than seventy million people in the world that have been diagnosed with schizophrenia, only diagnosed. There are probably several more people who have this disorder and have not been diagnosed or are unable to obtain the resources to be diagnosed.
Those with a personal or family history of mood or anxiety disorders, forms of psychosis, and particularly Schizophrenia are advised against using powerful hallucinogens. Even for someone with mental illness in remission is putting themselves at risk for serious long lasting psychoses such as Schizophrenia or severe depression (Drugs.com, 2013).
Classical antipsychotic treatments are commonly used to treat schizophrenic patients with major positive symptoms of schizophrenia, such as Thorazine, Haldol, and Stelazine (Gleitman et al., 2011). Antipsychotic treatments are usually administered with a variety of psychosocial treatments including social skills training, vocational rehabilitation, supported employment, family therapy, or individual therapy (Barlow & Durand, 2014). This is to reduce relapse and help the patient improve their skills in deficits and comply in consuming the
Many would say that simply entertaining the idea of having hallucinogenic drugs associated with therapy is probably the work of another idealist. That hallucinogenic drugs are far too dangerous to be used as medicine and may addict patients receiving the treatment. Another theory would be that that it’s another hoax to endorse drugs such as LSD. After hallucinogenic drugs were made illegal society wrapped its mind around it being dangerous and morally wrong to consume ...
Schizophrenia requires a lifetime of treatment through either medications and therapy, in many cases both is needed. Psychiatrist’s help patients survive through the disease. Another form to treat schizophrenia is through antipsychotic medications which are most commonly prescribed drugs to treat schizophrenia.
Also, some patients show noncompliance to their treatment meaning that they do not finish all their prescribed medications. Stress and anxiety may be momentarily treated through medications but meditation causes long term dissipation of stress and anxiety. Also, both stress and anxiety may be linked to a person with depression. Many times a person is depressed because they are overly anxious or too stressed along with other matters of concern. In a Harvard Women’s Health Watch newsletter, the act of going off antidepressants is discussed. The newsletter mentions: “Discontinuation symptoms can include anxiety and depression. Since these may be the reason you were prescribed antidepressants in the first place, their reappearance may suggest that you 're having a relapse and need ongoing treatment” (“Going off Antidepressants” ).The article reveals that leaning towards dependence of these pills can be extremely challenging for some. Many times people do become dependent on antidepressant and must continue to put unnecessary chemicals in the body. The chemicals are unnecessary because the brain possesses the power to create more serotonin and other neurotransmitters that lead to happiness. The ability to access that power within the brain is the practice of