ABSTRACT
The use of the term ‘antipsychotic’, rather than ‘neuroleptic’, to describe these drugs is in many ways a reflection of the hope that new agents may be developed in which the apparently inevitable link between antipsychotic and neuroleptic activity will be broken. Since the introduction of chlorpromazine and haloperidol more than 30 years ago, a great many agents have been used for the treatment of psychotic illness. These agents all seem to share the property of antagonist activity at dopamine receptors; indeed, many will have been selected for development either because they bind to dopamine receptors or because they are active in a dopamine-specific behavioural assay. The precise assessment of adverse events will depend upon the hypothesised mechanism of action, but, in addition to standard safety measures, other factors more directly associated with typical antipsychotic drugs should be carefully monitored.
