OBJECTIVE To compare longer-term safety and effectiveness of the 4 most commonly used atypical antipsychotics (aripiprazole, olanzapine, quetiapine, and risperidone) in 332 patients, aged > 40 years, having psychosis associated with schizophrenia, mood disorders, posttraumatic stress disorder, or dementia, diagnosed using DSM-IV-TR criteria. METHOD We used equipoise-stratified randomization (...

The present retrospective chart review documents the treatment practice of in-patients suffering from acute manic or hypomanic episodes, at the Department of General Psychiatry, Medical University of Vienna between 1997 and 2001. The aim of the study was to compare the efficacy of typical neuroleptics and atypical antipsychotics as add-on therapy to mood stabilizers. A total of 119 episodes of ...

OBJECTIVE Clozapine, the prototype of atypical antipsychotics, remains unique in its efficacy in the treatment of refractory schizophrenia. Its affinity for dopamine D(4) receptors, serotonin 5-HT(2A) receptor antagonism, effects on the noradrenergic system, and its relatively moderate occupancy of D(2) receptors are unlikely to be the critical mechanism underlying its efficacy. In an attempt t...

The issue of antipsychotics in psychiatry constituted a revolution at the time. The firsts, starting with chlorpromazine represent the conventional antipsychotics, in the last decades there was a new generation of antipsychotics, atypical, which improved the results in treating psychoses. Because, as any drug, it may have adverse effects we aimed an experimental study on rats to observe the tox...

Long-acting injectable antipsychotics constitute a valuable alternative for the treatment of psychotic disorders, mainly schizophrenia. They assure a more stable drug level, improve treatment compliance, and increase the chances for favorable and long-lasting improvement. Additionally, the long-acting second-generation antipsychotics combine the values of long-acting injectable drugs with the v...

To the Editor: Quetiapine is an atypical antipsychotic agent with less propensity than other atypical antipsychotics to induce antipsychotic-associated hyperprolactinemia in standard recommended therapeutic dosages, and when it does induce the condition at all, the rise in serum prolactin level is only transient. Accordingly, quetiapine has been recommended as an alternative in patients who dev...