Evaluation of Drug Therapy

Question 1

Strengths

Answer 1

• Thornley et al. (2003) showed in 13 trials of 1121 patients that chlorpromazine was associated with reduced symptom severity when compared to a placebo.
• Newer atypical ones seem to be more effective than typical ones (Meltzer 2012), clozapine was found to be effective in 30-50% of cases where typical antipsychotic drugs failed.
• Cheap and easy to administer

Question 2

Weaknesses

Answer 2

• Healy (2012) notes two issues:
• Almost all trials are short term, and many successful trials are cited making it appear like there is more evidence.
• What does effective mean? May be calmer due to sedation effect but this doesn’t necessarily mean that the patient is experiencing less severe psychosis.
• Serious side effects like dizziness, agitation, tardive dyskinesia, and neuroleptic malignant syndrome.
• Lack of understanding of why it works.
• Discount the important of psychological explanations and therapies.
• Used as a chemical cosh. Maybe we don’t like these drugs because they work but rather because they keep them more docile.