Medication

General Information

The drop down box below contains a variety of information on medication used in the treatment of Schizophrenia

Drug Information

The booklets contained in this drop down box below provide general information for patients and carers about the medication. However, these booklets are intended as a guide and should not be used in place of medical advice. For more specific advice about medication you should consult your doctor

These booklets have been reproduced with kind permission from Sherdley Unit Therapy Department 5 Boroughs Partnership NHS Trust

Side Effects - Background, context and rationale

An introduction by Austin Wilcox, Clinical Nurse Leader. Newcastle Community Mental Health Services

Antipsychotic medication remains the most widely used treatment for people with schizophrenia and their role in producing positive outcomes has been clearly demonstrated in the literature.

However, antipsychotic medications can also produce a wide range of adverse effects that impact on the patients' quality of life and level of functioning. Some of the adverse effects such as akathisia are associated with suicide in patients with psychosis.

Side effects are also associated with non-adherence to treatment regimes and effect relapse rates which often result in re-admission to acute psychiatric units.

Until recently assessing side effects was difficult in routine practice. Previous rating scales examined only a limited range of adverse events, which were lengthy in time to administer often by trained investigators.

However the development of newer valid tools such as LUNSERS makes the clinicians' task much easier to achieve. Also several recently published Department of Health (DoH) papers have recommended the use of side effect rating scales in routine clinical practice for anyone receiving antipsychotic medication.

Despite those guidelines and recommendations and a growing evidence base for implementing formal side effect assessment and monitoring in clinical practice, progress has been slow across the country, regionally and locally.

However this is changing with many Clinical Governance groups taking a strategic approach to ensure side effect monitoring becomes a standard feature of clinical practice.

Antipsychotics: Relative Adverse Effects – A Rough Guide

Acknowledgement to Maudsley Prescribing Guidelines