ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the use of antipsychotic medication in a general psychiatric practice. It explores possible ways to facilitate prediction of response, optimize treatment in drug-responders, and identify patients for whom medication is less likely to be helpful. Antipsychotic drugs are generally well absorbed after oral administration and may begin to produce clinical effects in 30 to 60 min. Despite the structural dissimilarity of the various antipsychotic agents, they share in common the ability to interfere with neuronal functions mediated by the neurotransmitter dopamine (DA). The overall efficacy of antipsychotic drugs for treating the symptoms of acute schizophrenia is well established. By observing the effects of various pharmacologic probes on DA-associated neuroendocrine, clinical, and subjective responses, there have been attempts to characterize potential drug responders. Antipsychotic medication treatment is an important pharmacologic tool for the general psychiatrist. Antipsychotic drugs cross the placental barrier. Distressing but rarely serious genitourinary effects can occur with antipsychotic treatment.
