Abstract

ATYPICAL ANTIPSYCHOTICS: THE FIRST LINE TREATMENT FOR SCHIZOPHRENIA & PSYCHIATRIC DISORDERS

*Rakesh D. Amrutkar,Mr. P.R.Shirode

ABSTRACT

Psychosis: It is severe psychiatric illness with serious distortion of thought, behavior, and capacity to recognize reality & of perception (delusion & hallucination). Most of psychoses are functional rather than organic. It is now believed that noradrenaline & dopamine in particular are involved in the psychosis process & imbalance between the two is associated with the disease. In short it is a chemical imbalance in the brain. [1,2] Types of Psychosis Schizophrenia: Schizophrenia is a chronic, disabling illness that may be caused by abnormal amounts of certain chemicals in the brain. These chemicals are called neurotransmitters. Neurotransmitters control our thought processes and emotions. It has a wide range of symptoms. These include hallucinations (often hearing voices), delusions (false ideas that do not respond to reasoned argument), muddled speech and thoughts, and, very rarely catatonia (prolonged rigid postures or outbursts of repeated movement). People with schizophrenia may also experience 'flattening' of their moods, which means that they don't have any strong emotions, don't feel motivated to do anything and become detached from their social situation. Schizophrenia can follow a 'relapsing and remitting course', which means that symptoms come and go, or it can be 'chronic and progressive', which means that symptoms are persistent (are present all the time) and get worse over time. Schizophrenia can occur at any age, but it is rare before puberty and most common in late adolescence and the early twenties. It affects about 2 to 10 people in every 1000 in the general population. Schizophrenia is thought to be slightly more common in men than in women. [3,4] Some facts about schizophrenia is as below.

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