Antipsychotics, previously known as neuroleptics and major tranquilizers, are a class of psychotropic medication primarily used to manage psychosis, principally in schizophrenia but also in a range of other psychotic disorders. They are also the mainstay, together with mood stabilizers, in the treatment of bipolar disorder. Moreover, they are also used as adjuncts in the treatment of treatment-resistant major depressive disorder.
Anti-psychiatry, sometimes spelled antipsychiatry without the hyphen, is a movement based on the view that psychiatric treatment is often more damaging than helpful to patients, highlighting controversies about psychiatry. Objections include the reliability of psychiatric diagnosis, the questionable effectiveness and harm associated with psychiatric medications, the failure of psychiatry to demonstrate any disease treatment mechanism for psychiatric medication effects, and legal concerns about equal human rights and civil freedom being nullified by the presence of diagnosis. Historical critiques of psychiatry came to light after focus on the extreme harms associated with electroconvulsive therapy or insulin shock therapy. The term "anti-psychiatry" is in dispute and often used to dismiss all critics of psychiatry, many of whom agree that a specialized role of helper for people in emotional distress may at times be appropriate, and allow for individual choice around treatment decisions.
The American Psychiatric Association (APA) is the main professional organization of psychiatrists and trainee psychiatrists in the United States, and the largest psychiatric organization in the world. It has more than 38,000 members who are involved in psychiatric practice, research, and academia representing a diverse population of patients in more than 100 countries. The association publishes various journals and pamphlets, as well as the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM). The DSM codifies psychiatric conditions and is used mostly in the United States as a guide for diagnosing mental disorders.
Fluphenazine, sold under the brand name Prolixin among others, is a high-potency typical antipsychotic medication. It is used in the treatment of chronic psychoses such as schizophrenia, and appears to be about equal in effectiveness to low-potency antipsychotics like chlorpromazine. It is given by mouth, injection into a muscle, or just under the skin. There is also a long acting injectable version that may last for up to four weeks. Fluphenazine decanoate, the depot injection form of fluphenazine, should not be used by people with severe depression.
Edwin Fuller Torrey, is an American psychiatrist and schizophrenia researcher. He is associate director of research at the Stanley Medical Research Institute (SMRI) and founder of the Treatment Advocacy Center (TAC), a nonprofit organization whose principal activity is promoting the passage and implementation of outpatient commitment laws and civil commitment laws and standards in individual states that allow people diagnosed with severe mental illness to be involuntarily hospitalized and treated throughout the United States.
Encephalopathy means any disorder or disease of the brain, especially chronic degenerative conditions. In modern usage, encephalopathy does not refer to a single disease, but rather to a syndrome of overall brain dysfunction; this syndrome has many possible organic and inorganic causes.
The Texas Medication Algorithm Project (TMAP) is a decision-tree medical algorithm, the design of which was based on the expert opinions of mental health specialists. It has provided and rolled out a set of psychiatric management guidelines for doctors treating certain mental disorders within Texas' publicly funded mental health care system, along with manuals relating to each of them. The algorithms commence after diagnosis and cover pharmacological treatment.
The TeenScreen National Center for Mental Health Checkups at Columbia University was a national mental health and suicide risk screening initiative for middle- and high-school age adolescents. On November 15, 2012, according to its website, the program was terminated. The organization operated as a center in the Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Department at Columbia University, in New York City. The program was developed at Columbia University in 1999, and launched nationally in 2003. Screening was voluntary and offered through doctors' offices, schools, clinics, juvenile justice facilities, and other youth-serving organizations and settings. As of August 2011, the program had more than 2,000 active screening sites across 46 states in the United States, and in other countries including Australia, Brazil, India and New Zealand.
The Mental Health Act 1983 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It covers the reception, care and treatment of mentally disordered people, the management of their property and other related matters, forming part of the mental health law for the people in England and Wales. In particular, it provides the legislation by which people diagnosed with a mental disorder can be detained in a hospital or police custody and have their disorder assessed or treated against their wishes, informally known as "sectioning". Its use is reviewed and regulated by the Care Quality Commission. The Act was significantly amended by the Mental Health Act 2007. A white paper proposing changes to the act was published in 2021 following an independent review of the act by Simon Wessely.
A growing body of research has begun to highlight differences in the way racial and ethnic groups respond to psychiatric medication.
In applied psychology, interventions are actions performed to bring about change in people. A wide range of intervention strategies exist and they are directed towards various types of issues. Most generally, it means any activities used to modify behavior, emotional state, or feelings. Psychological interventions have many different applications and the most common use is for the treatment of mental disorders, most commonly using psychotherapy. The ultimate goal behind these interventions is not only to alleviate symptoms but also to target the root cause of mental disorders.
People with schizophrenia are at a higher than average risk of physical ill health, and earlier death than the general population. The fatal conditions include cardiovascular, respiratory and metabolic disorders.
A chemical restraint is a form of medical restraint in which a drug is used to restrict the freedom or movement of a patient or in some cases to sedate the patient. Chemical restraint is used in emergency, acute, and psychiatric settings to perform surgery or to reduce agitation, aggression or violent behaviours; it may also be used to control or punish unruly behaviours. Chemical restraint is also referred to as a "Psychopharmacologic Agent", "Psychotropic Drug" or "Therapeutic Restraints" in certain legal writing.
Anatomy of an Epidemic: Magic Bullets, Psychiatric Drugs, and the Astonishing Rise of Mental Illness in America is a book by Robert Whitaker published in 2010 by Crown. Whitaker asks why the number of Americans who receive government disability for mental illness approximately doubled since 1987.
Psychiatric pharmacy, also known as mental health pharmacy, is the area of clinical pharmacy specializing in the treatment of people with psychiatric illnesses through the use of psychotropic medications. It is a branch of neuropsychiatric pharmacy, which includes neurologic pharmacy. Areas where psychiatric pharmacists are found most abundantly are in chemical dependency, developmental disabilities, long-term care facilities, adherence clinics, mental health clinics, and within the prison system. However, psychiatry and neurology are not the only areas where psychiatric pharmacists require comprehensive knowledge. They must also be proficient in clinical problem solving, interprofessionalism, and communication with understanding and empathy for the patient population they serve, as they are a sensitive group.
Doctoring the Mind: Why psychiatric treatments fail is a 2009 book by Richard Bentall, his thesis is critical of contemporary Western psychiatry. Bentall, a professor of clinical psychology, argues that recent scientific research shows that the medical approach to mental illness is fatally flawed. According to Bentall, it seems there is no "evidence that psychiatry has made a positive impact on human welfare" and "patients are doing no better today than they did a hundred years ago".
Covert medication, the covert administration of medicines is when medicines are administered in a disguised form, usually in food or drink, without the knowledge or consent of the individual receiving the drug. The decision-making processes surrounding covert medication should be in the best interests of the patient, transparent and inclusive.
Psychiatry is, and has historically been, viewed as controversial by those under its care, as well as sociologists and psychiatrists themselves. There are a variety of reasons cited for this controversy, including the subjectivity of diagnosis, the use of diagnosis and treatment for social and political control including detaining citizens and treating them without consent, the side effects of treatments such as electroconvulsive therapy, antipsychotics and historical procedures like the lobotomy and other forms of psychosurgery or insulin shock therapy, and the history of racism within the profession in the United States.
A collaborative practice agreement (CPA) is a legal document in the United States that establishes a legal relationship between clinical pharmacists and collaborating physicians that allows for pharmacists to participate in collaborative drug therapy management (CDTM).
Shubulade Smith is a British academic and consultant psychiatrist at the South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust (SLaM). She is a senior lecturer at King's College, London and Clinical Director at the NCCMH and forensic services at SLaM, and is currently serving as the first black President of the Royal College of Psychiatrists.
