ABSTRACT
The use of neuroleptic drugs for the treatment of mental disorders began in the early 1950s and has increased steadily. Psychiatrists, sociologists, and professionals in allied fields have emphasized the advantages of maintaining the mentally ill in the community. Permanent neurological disorders have become very common among patients treated with neuroleptics, but little effort has been made to come to grips with this problem. Neuroleptics may reduce overactivity and belligerent behavior, but these are secondary effects of a general lessening of psychopathology. Sedation occurs only in the early stages of drug therapy in certain susceptible individuals or when excessive doses are administered, particularly of chlorpromazine. The widespread prescribing of potentially dangerous drugs has been particularly evident in the field of psychopharmacology because of its role in a rapidly expanding and changing program of mental health care. Tardive dyskinesia becomes more pronounced after drugs are withdrawn, a fact that skeptics have used to question its existence as a clinical entity.
