Lesson 4 - Biological Treatments for Schizophrenia Flashcards

1
Q

What is the most common treatment for schizophrenia?

A

Drugs, specifically antipsychotic drugs

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2
Q

What are the 3 forms that these drugs can be taken in?

A

Tablets,
Syrup,
Injection.

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3
Q

What are the two types of anti-psychotic drugs?

A
  1. Typical antipsychotics
  2. Atypical antipsychotics
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4
Q

When did typical antipsychotics initially start being used?

A

1950s

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5
Q

What is the main typical antipsychotic that you must know?

A

Chlorpromazine

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6
Q

What is chlorpromazine?

A

This is a drug that can be taken as a syrup, injection or tablet. It is also an effective sedative, and is often used to calm the nerves of schizophrenics.

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7
Q

What is the maximum dosage for chlorpromazine?

A

1000mg, but the dosages start at 400mg and gradually increase to 800mg.

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8
Q

What do typical antipsychotics do scientifically?

A

They are dopamine antagonists. This means that they bind to receptors, and then block them from firing, which ultimately reduces the actions of dopamine.

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9
Q

What do typical antipsychotics do realistically?

A

They reduce positive symptoms such as hallucinations, and also calm the nerves of the schizophrenic and make them seem sleepy.

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10
Q

When did atypical antipsychotics initially emerge?

A

1970s

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11
Q

What are atypical antipsychotics for?

A

They were used to improve upon the effectiveness of typical antipsychotics, and minimise the side effects. They also counteract negative symptoms and cognitive impairment.

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12
Q

What are the two types of atypical antipsychotics you should know?

A

Clozapine and Risperidone

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13
Q

When was clozapine developed?

A

It was developed in the 1960s, and trialed in the 1970s. It was withdrawn, and then reintroduced in the 1980s.

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14
Q

Why was clozapine initially withdrawn from being used?

A

It caused a blood condition known as agranulocytosis.

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15
Q

How is clozapine practically used today?

A

It is used as an alternative treatment if typical antipsychotics failed to work. However, the patients must be given regular blood tests if they are taking clozapine, in order to prevent agranulocytosis.

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16
Q

What is the maximum dosage for Clozapine?

A

300-450mg a day.

17
Q

How is Clozapine consumed?

A

It must be taken as a syrup or tablet, as the injection would be too dangerous.

18
Q

How does Clozapine work neurologically?

A

It works similarly to typical antipsychotics by binding dopamine receptors, but clozapine also acts on serotonin and glutamate receptors. This reduces anxiety and depression symptoms, and improves overall cognitive functioning.

19
Q

Who is specifically given clozapine due to it’s mood lifting properties?

A

Patients at a high risk of suicide are given this to try and counteract the suicidal thoughts. This is essential as 30-50% of schizophrenics attempt suicide.

20
Q

When was Risperidone first used?

A

1990s

21
Q

What was the initial aim of using Risperidone?

A

It was used to reduce the side effects of clozapine, but still be as effective as clozapine.

22
Q

What is the maximum and recommended dosage of Risperidone?

A

Patients are given between 4-8mg, and 12mg is the maximum.

23
Q

How can Risperidone be consumed?

A

It can be used in all 3 forms - syrup, tablets, injection.

24
Q

How does Risperidone work neurologically?

A

It works the same as clozapine, but it is more efficient so it leads to less side effects. Also, due to it’s efficiency a much smaller dose is needed.

25
Q

Evaluation of drug therapy - Research support for typical antipsychotics

A

Thornley (2003) compared the use of chlorpromazine with placebos. He did 13 trials with 1121 participants. He found that the chlorpromazine takers had reduced side effects and the placebos were less effective, which proves that the drugs are doing something.

26
Q

Evaluation of drug therapy - Research for atypical antipsychotics

A

Meltzer (2012) found that Clozapine was more effective than typical and other atypical antipsychotics at treating SZ. Clozapine has been found to be effective in 30-50% of cases where typical antipsychotics failed. This again shows that the popular drugs are the most effective.

27
Q

Evaluation of drug therapy - lack of relapse rates

A

Leucht (2012) did a meta analysis on over 6000 patients. He found that when patients were taken off antipsychotics and put onto placebos, within 12 months of this happening 64% of them relapsed. However, only 27% relapsed if they continued to take their antipsychotic meds. This shows that the medication is effective and prevents relapse.

28
Q

Evaluation of drug therapy - Side effects of typical antipsychotics

A

Typical antipsychotics have the side effects of: Dizziness, agitation, sleepiness, stiff jaw, weight gain, and itchy skin.
There is also two more awful side effects.
They could get ‘tardive dyskinesia’ which is a permanent illness which is caused by dopamine supersensitivity.
0.1-0.2% of schizophrenics get NMS. This essentially leads to a high temperature, delirium, a coma and may cause death.
(not good)

29
Q

Evaluation of drug therapy - Side effects of atypical antipsychotics

A

These were initially developed to overcome these side effects, so there is often not many. However, Clozapine has agranulocytosis as a side effect, which then requires the patient to have constant blood tests. This essentially messes with the production of white blood cells, which leads to problems with immunity).

30
Q

Evaluation of drug therapy - Overexaggerated positive effects.

A

Healy (2012) claims that many drug trials have been exaggerating the effectiveness of their drugs. Also, antipsychotics have calming effects, but this does not directly tell us if the symptoms are being reduced. The drug trials also only evaluate the short term benefits, and do not look at long term effects.

31
Q

Evaluation of drug therapy - Ethical Issues

A

There is a large issue with consent in schizophrenia. Technically, due to the mental health of the patients, most patients are not in the right mind to consent to such powerful and potentially damaging drugs.