Antipsychotics

Recent research reveals how antipsychotic medications can significantly impact users' identity and self-image, challenging existing clinical approaches.

A comprehensive review indicates that children exposed to antipsychotics in the womb face an increased risk of ADHD and developmental delays.

Research undermines the prolonged use of antipsychotics in schizophrenia treatment, suggesting improved social functioning and quality of life with discontinuation.

New research finds insomnia, anxiety, and depression are common symptoms of antipsychotic withdrawal, highlighting difficulties of discontinuation.

A new review finds a lack of available guidance on how to effectively monitor adverse effects of antipsychotic drug clozapine.

Those who did not get antipsychotics in the first month were almost twice as likely to be in recovery after five years.

Outcomes were worse for all, with young people on combination therapy twice as likely to experience rehospitalization or death by suicide than those on antidepressants alone.

The antipsychotic clozapine, considered the “gold-standard” treatment for psychosis, was found to increase the risk of blood and lymph system cancers.

Only 4 of 188 antipsychotic trials assessed blinding, and in all 4 cases, the blind was broken, potentially leading to an overestimation of the drug effect.

Researchers highlight how systematic reviews are compromised by pharmaceutical industry ties by exposing a study of injectable antipsychotics.

New research examines service user attitudes on discontinuing and reducing antipsychotic drugs.

New research reveals that patients are often not given fully informed consent before being prescribed antipsychotics.

Withholding antipsychotics may be beneficial for memory, the researchers write.

“Patients expressed feeling unaccepted by society or uncomfortable in their own skin… A few indicated that they would rather be dead than have tardive dyskinesia.”

Long-term exposure to prolactin-increasing antipsychotics increases the odds of developing breast cancer.

Researchers developed a rating scale to better assess service users’ experiences tapering antidepressant and/or antipsychotic medication.

In JAMA psychiatry, researchers outline new theories connecting antipsychotic use in people with schizophrenia and increased dementia risk.

Research suggests that slowly tapering off an antipsychotic reduces the risk of withdrawal psychosis compared to abrupt discontinuation.

A new article in Lancet Psychiatry debunks past studies claiming that those on low doses of antipsychotics are more likely to relapse.

Researchers argue for a shift away from a focus on antipsychotic adherence toward understanding service users’ diverse patterns of use.

The CHR-P model focuses on “attenuated psychosis” to predict “transition” to schizophrenia and ignores other factors. But new research shows that the model is a poor predictor.

Researchers push for a renewed focus on true shared decision-making for patients diagnosed with psychosis.

Researchers have found further evidence that the anticholinergic effect of psychiatric drugs can lead to cognitive impairments.

Qualitative study finds that both internal resources and systemic factors play a role in antipsychotic discontinuation outcomes.

The recent report by the BBC on medication-free treatment in Norway, when viewed in conjunction with the media silence on Martin Harrow's latest publication, reveals why the public remains misinformed about the long-term effects of antipsychotics.