Antipsychotics and Schizophrenia Notes

Flashcards covering key terms and concepts related to antipsychotics and schizophrenia from the lecture notes.

Schizophrenia

An umbrella term for mental disorders characterized by distortion of reality.

Positive Symptoms

Psychotic symptoms including delusions, hallucinations, and disorganized speech.

Negative Symptoms

Symptoms such as flat affect, reduced motivation, and social withdrawal.

Cognitive Symptoms

Symptoms including difficulty processing information, attention deficits, and memory impairment.

Delusions

Beliefs about the world that contradict accepted reality.

Hallucinations

Perceptions without external stimuli, commonly verbal-auditory.

Disorganized Speech

Speech that lacks logical coherence, including derailment and 'word salad'.

Chlorpromazine

The first generation antipsychotic developed as an antihistamine, effective on psychotic symptoms.

Typical Antipsychotics

A class of first-generation antipsychotics that primarily act as D_2 dopamine receptor antagonists, effective mainly for positive symptoms of schizophrenia, and associated with motor side effects.

Dopamine Hypothesis

The theory that excess dopamine function results in positive symptoms of schizophrenia.

Tardive Dyskinesia

Stereotyped involuntary movements, particularly of the face and jaw, resulting from antipsychotic use.

Extrapyramidal Symptoms (EPS)

Motor side effects of antipsychotics, especially first-generation, including acute dystonia, akathisia, and parkinsonism.

Second-Generation Antipsychotics

Antipsychotics introduced in the 1990s, also known as atypical antipsychotics, that target multiple receptors (e.g., D2 dopamine and 5-HT{2A} serotonin antagonists). They are effective for positive, negative, and cognitive symptoms, with a lower risk of motor side effects but a higher risk of metabolic side effects.

Clozapine

An atypical (second-generation) antipsychotic known for its superior efficacy in treatment-resistant schizophrenia, but requiring regular blood monitoring due to the risk of agranulocytosis.

Self-medication with Nicotine

Schizophrenia patients may use nicotine to reduce some negative and cognitive symptoms.