Biological Treatment of Schizo - Drug Therapy

Question 1

Name the TYPICAL or first generation antipsychotics

Answer 1

FGAs

Question 2

Name the ATYPICAL or second generation antipsychotics

Answer 2

SGAs

Question 3

What does FGA do

Answer 3

Dopamine antagonist
Reduces positive symptoms by blocking postsynaptic dopamine receptors without activating them

Question 4

What receptors do they bind to

Answer 4

D2

Question 5

What symptoms do FGAs reduce and findings of drugs

Answer 5

Positive
BUT
40% experience no relief
May still have negative symptoms
Experience side effects -> uncontrollable stiff or writhing movements of face and body

Question 6

Study about FGAs and their findings

Answer 6

Barlow and Durand (1995)
Reduces positive symptoms
40% gain no relief
Many still experience negative symptoms

Question 7

Drug examples of SGAs

Answer 7

Clozapine
Risperidone

Question 8

What does clozapine do

Answer 8

Blocks dopamine (same way as FGAs)
Serotonin and glutamate antagonist

Question 9

Symptoms of clozapine

Answer 9

Reduces positive and negative

Question 10

side effects Of clozapine

Answer 10

Agranulocytosis - blood condition
60% of patients feel relief
Need regular blood tests

Question 11

Clozapine study and results

Answer 11

Lally and MacCabe (2015)
Side effect agranulocytosis
Provides relief for 60%

Question 12

What does risperidone do

Answer 12

Binds to serotonin and dopamine

Question 13

Why is risperidone so good compared to other antipsychotics

Answer 13

Binds strongly to dopamine receptors than clozapine so effective in smaller doses than most antipsychotics

Question 14

What is the doctors aim to do after the first week of a psychotic episode

Answer 14

Decrease hostility and return client to normal functioning (sleeping etc)

Question 16

What do the doctors monitor

Answer 16

Changes in symptoms and side effects

Question 17

What does the maintenance dose do

Answer 17

Encourages socialisation
Combats relapse
Continues for 12 months after remission

Question 18

What are the relapse statistics found

Answer 18

18-32% relapse who TAKE meds
60-80% relapse who DON’T take meds

Question 19

What can’t be taken in patients due to medication

Answer 19

Amphetamines, alcohol, caffeine, nicotine
Disrupt effectiveness of antipsychotic medications

Question 20

What can be seen as a weakness of the drugs

Answer 20

Rail to bring relief to people who have experiences symptoms for a long period of time
5 years and acute episode leads to most significant brain changes

Question 21

Strength of the medication study

Answer 21

Zhao et al (2016)

Question 22

What did strength Zhao et al (2016) find

Answer 22

56 randomised trials with over 10,000 people
17/18 antipsychotic drugs has significantly lower relapse rates than placebo
Help avoid emotional and financial cost of hospital treatments

Question 23

What is a weakness of Zhao et al (2016)

Answer 23

Patel et al (2014)
20% of ppl with schizo showed little improvement after multiple FGA trials, 45% experience partial or inadequate improvememt
Many ppl struggle with everyday life who take the meds

Question 24

Weakness studies

Answer 24

Kapur et al (200)
Turner et al (2012)

Question 25

What did Kapur et al (2000) find

Answer 25

Many studies involving drugs are animal studies
Medication blocks D2 receptors effectively but produce severe side effects with same doses
Animals cannot show how side effects affect everyday life or lack of compliance
Lab research cannot replicate experience of taking medication and coping with side effects

Question 26

What did Turner et al (2012) find

Answer 26

Publication bias towards studies showing positive outcome of antipsychotic drugs
Drug effectiveness exaggerated, doctors make inappropriate treatment decisions