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Antipsychotics in clinical practice: guidelines for safe and effective use
Author(s) -
Curran Stephen,
Harris Linda,
Macdonald Andrew,
Pollock Colin,
Roney Gerry,
Silkstone David
Publication year - 2002
Publication title -
human psychopharmacology: clinical and experimental
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.461
H-Index - 78
eISSN - 1099-1077
pISSN - 0885-6222
DOI - 10.1002/hup.373
Subject(s) - schizophrenia (object oriented programming) , intensive care medicine , medicine , antipsychotic , psychiatry , quality of life (healthcare) , nursing
Antipsychotic drugs have made a significant contribution to the treatment of schizophrenia but the older drugs in particular have significant side‐effects. The newer atypical drugs are effective for the treatment of both positive and negative symptoms and they also have significantly fewer serious side‐effects. However, these drugs are considerably more expensive that the older drugs and this has generated intense debate about their cost effectiveness. There is now good evidence that when all factors are taken into consideration the atypical drugs are both cost effective and improve the quality of life of patients with schizophrenia. Despite the importance of these drugs there is widespread variation in their use and a national consensus on this important issue is long overdue. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.