Antipsychotics Term Paper by Top Papers

The paper relates that antipsychotics are categorized as psychoactive drugs and psychoactive drugs are often used to treat psychosis. The paper explains that the first generation of antipsychotics were discovered and marketed in the 1950s. The paper then relates that atypical antipsychotics are sometimes called second generation. The paper describes how the purpose of antipsychotics is to block the dopamine pathways in the brain and what is being discovered is that antipsychotics are blocking more receptors than just the dopamine pathways. The paper explains that the blocking of other receptors in the brain are believed to be the cause of several side effects which include a rapid gain of weight, angranulocytosis, tardive dyskinesia, akathisia and psychoses. The paper reveals that currently, there is much research and development being done to create antipsychotics that limit the physical side effects of the drug (Schmetzer, 2005).