Transcript Treatment of Schizophrenia

Treatment of Schizophrenia
Drug Therapies
Pre-Drug Therapy
• Prior to the discovery of
psychological drugs, hospitals had
few options with which to treat
patients
• Most early treatment techniques are
today considered archaic and
sometimes cruel
Post-Drug Therapy
• With the discovery of effective drug
treatments, patients were able to leave
the institutions
(deinstitutionalization).
Deinstitutionalization
• The release of patients from mental
hospitals to the community at large
• The development of drug therapies led to
an 80% decline in the number of
hospitalized mental patients from 1950 to
2000.
• Many of the former patients became part
of the homeless population.
Biomedical Therapies
• Widespread
use of
antipsychotic
medications
began in the
mid-1950’s
• Can be related
to number of
patients in
mental hospitals
Drug Therapies:
Antipsychotic Drugs
Antipsychotic Drugs
• A category of medications used primarily
to treat schizophrenia
• Reduces the levels of hallucinations and
delusions and distorted thinking
• Drugs work primarily by blocking the
activity of dopamine
• 2 Types: Typical and Atypical
Typical Antipsychotic Medications
• Typical antipsychotics (Thorazine)
– Effective against positive symptoms of
schizophrenia
– Have uncomfortable side effects
– Globally reduce brain dopamine levels
• Side effects include: dry mouth, blurred vision,
constipation, and tardive dyskinesia
• Tardive dyskinesia – a permanent condition of
muscle tremors Thorazine
• One of the first antipsychotic drugs
Schizophrenia Drug Therapy
• Insert “Schizophrenia” Video #34 from
Worth’s Digital Media Archive for
Psychology. (5:15)
• How does Augustine’s behavior change
after 4 weeks on medication?
Click HERE to view in a
separate window (5 min).
Shorter version: Effectiveness
of these drugs with a
schizophrenic (2 min)
Drawbacks of Antipsychotic
Medications
• The early antipsychotics didn’t actually cure
schizophrenia; psychotic symptoms often returned if a
person stopped taking the medication
• They were not effective in eliminating the negative
symptoms of schizophrenia
• They often produced unwanted side effects
• They globally altered brain levels of dopamine,
sometimes producing motor-related side effects; longterm use can cause tardive dyskinesia
• Patients go through a “revolving door” pattern of
hospitalization, discharge, and rehospitalization
• View some of the Drawbacks of Antipsychotic Drugs (1
min)
Atypical Antipsychotic Medications
• Newer drugs that may also be effective against
negative symptoms of schizophrenia
• Affect levels of serotonin as well as dopamine
• Much less likely to cause movement-related
side effects because they block dopamine
brain receptors far more selectively
• Produce (sometimes dramatic) improvement
in a significant proportion of patients who
have not responded to traditional
antipsychotic drugs