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The best treatment for psychotic illness usually includes a combination of antipsychotic medication, psychological therapy and community support. This pamphlet answers commonly-asked questions about antipsychotic medication (antipsychotics).

How do antipsychotic medications help?

Antipsychotic medications are helpful to people with schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder and some forms of bipolar disorder. They are able to reduce, or sometimes eliminate, the distressing and disabling symptoms of psychosis, such as paranoia, confused thinking, delusions and hallucinations, so that the person taking them feels better.

How do antipsychotic medications work?

People with schizophrenia and other psychotic illnesses often have an imbalance in certain natural chemicals in the brain, especially dopamine. Antipsychotic medications help the brain to restore its usual chemical balance and so reduce symptoms.

How long do they take to work?

People should begin to feel better within six weeks of starting to take antipsychotic medication. However, it can take several months before the full benefits are felt.

What else do we know about antipsychotics?

They don’t change your personality. While you might notice changes in your mood and the way you cope with stress, antipsychotics will not change your personality.

They don’t make you feel good all the time

While antipsychotics can relieve the symptoms of psychosis-related disorders, they do not stop you from feeling the normal ups and downs of life. You may notice, though, that you fnd it easier to think more clearly.

They are not the only treatment that helps you get better

Taking antipsychotic medication is one important step in getting better but is rarely enough on its own. As well as medication, effective treatment for schizophrenia and related disorders usually includes ongoing clinical support in the community, psychological therapies, education about the illness and how to deal with it, psychosocial rehabilitation, and accommodation and employment support.

They are not addictive

Antipsychotics, like many medications, change the way you feel. This means that if you stop taking the medication you may start to feel the way you did before the treatment. However, antipsychotic medications are not addictive, and you will not become dependant on them (you do not need to take higher and higher doses to get the same benefits).

What types of antipsychotic medications are there?

There are two types of antipsychotic medications: typical (older) and atypical (newer). While both are effective, the atypical ones have advantages over the typical ones. These advantages include:

- fewer side-effects such as trembling or stiffening of muscles

- less risk of developing ‘tardive dyskinesia’ : movement of the mouth, tongue and sometimes other parts of the body over which the person has no control. Some evidence suggests that the newer medications may be effective in improving overall mood, thinking and motivation. While the atypical antipsychotic medications are used more than the typicals, some people find that the typical medications suit them better.

What antipsychotic medications are available?

Atypical antipsychotic medications currently available on prescription in Australia include:

Amisulpride (Solian) – Tablet or solution. Approved for use by people with schizophrenia.

Aripriprazole (Abilify) – Tablet. Approved for use by people with schizophrenia.

Clozapine (Clozaril, Clopine) – Tablet. Approved for use by people with schizophrenia and who have not been helped by other medications. People taking clozapine have regular blood tests to check for early signs of a very rare but serious blood disorder. These tests prevent serious problems.

Olanzapine (Zyprexa) – Tablet, quick-dissolving wafer or intramuscular injection. Approved for use by people with schizophrenia or bipolar disorder. Intramuscular injection is approved for use in people with agitation in schizophrenia or bipolar disorder.

Quetiapine (Seroquel) – Tablet. Approved for use by people with schizophrenia and for acute mania associated with bipolar disorder.

Risperidone (Risperdal) – Tablet, quick-dissolving wafer, solution or long-acting injection. Approved for use by people with schizophrenia and related psychoses.

What about injections – depot medication?

Depot medication is given by injection, which releases the drug slowly over some weeks. Most depots are the older, typical medications, which have increased problems with side-effects. A risperidone long-acting injection (Consta), an atypical medication, is now available. Some people prefer injections as they find remembering to take tablets difficult. Some people are required to take depot medication as a condition of a community treatment order.

How do I find out more?

It is important to ask your doctor about any concerns you have.
SANE Australia also produces a range of easy-to-read publications and multimedia resources on mental illness. For more information about this topic see:

- The SANE Guide to Medication and other Treatments
Explains how all the different aspects of treatment work, by looking at clinical care, medication, support in the community and helping yourself.

- The SANE Guide to Schizophrenia and other Psychotic Illness
Explains what it means to have a psychotic illness such as schizophrenia, examining effective treatments and what family and friends can do to help.

- Schizophrenia DVD or Video Kit (37 minutes)
People who've experienced illness and their carers talk about the things which have helped them cope better. The SANE Guide to Schizophrenia and other Psychotic Illness also included. See above for details.

- Voices: The Auditory Hallucinations Project (13 minute audio CD)
Explains how it feels to hear voices and what can be done to help.

- SANE CD ROM: Guide to Psychosis
Using sounds and images it explains what psychosis means, how it feels for those who experience it and their families and friends and what treatments help.


To order visit the SANE Bookshop at www.sane.org or call 1800 18 SANE (7263)

SANE Australia . . . Meeting the challenge of mental illness New Antispsychotic Medications

©SANE Factsheet 10, Side 1
This Factsheet may be freely downloaded, copied and distributed on condition no change is made to the contents. SANE Australia is not responsible for any actions taken as a result of information or opinions contained in the Factsheet. SANE Australia is a business name of Schizophrenia Australia Foundation. [Version English, 2005]