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I remember a math teacher in high school who had a poster on her wall. It was of a beautiful woman in a bikini on a beach with open arms to the sky in a joyous rapture as a wave crashed on the rock she was standing on. In big letters along the bottom was the word "Calculus". I never did develop the same sentiment for calculus that my math teacher had although I can understand that many people could. I have developed that sentiment for "Atypcials" though, and wish someone would recreate that poster with the word "Atypicals" along the bottom.
The atypicals are the dawning of a new age in the treatment of schizophrenia. They are more effective over a broader range of symptoms with fewer side effects. That may not sound like much but they are having a profound effect on the outcomes of people diagnosed with schizophrenia. For one thing people are more likely to stay on a medication that isn't worse than the illness itself. The conventional medications for schizophrenia, of which Haldol was the most common, often had frightening side effects, and caused a type of dysphoria in some people referred to as the "zombie effect". People appeared to become walking zombies on medication and rarely stayed on medication long enough for that effect to dissipate. The frightening side effects are called EPS (Extra Pyramidal Symptoms) side effects. They could be partially controlled by other medication. One study I read came to the conclusion that the major reason for noncompliance in people taking conventional medications was the EPS symptoms which were so unpleasant. Noncompliance used to be something like 70% within a year of discharge from a hospital and relapse rates were 70% within two years for that population. The end result was a revolving door of rehospitalization. As people went off medication, they relapsed and had to be rehospitalized, over and over again. With each relapse the individual's functioning deteriorated and they became more treatment resistant and eventually required permanent hospitalization. Over the many years a person would be on conventional medications tardive dyskinesia often developed, a permanently disfiguring condition of uncontrolled body and facial movements. High Prolactin levels would cause sexual dysfunction, osteoporosis etc. etc. As Dr. Janssen, who created Haldol, remarked at a press conference once, " I have never met anyone who enjoyed taking Haldol". The first atypical was Clozapine, still considered the best by many, but it was found to have a lethal side effect in one per cent of the population called agranulocytosis. It is used, but with biweekly blood sampling to prevent death from agranulocytosis. The blood sampling raises the cost of the medication but it is the one drug so far that has been shown to work when everything else fails.
The copyright of the article The Dawn of a New Age in Schizophrenia is owned by Ian Chovil. Permission to republish The Dawn of a New Age in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
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