Antipsychotic medication, otherwise known as neuroleptics, are mainly used in the treatment of disorders where there is an element of psychosis . These chemicals are the ones that are involved in transmitting impulses down the nerves in the brain. At these junctions the level of neurotransmitters is crucial in deciding whether an impulse carries on, or is stopped. It is thought that in psychosis, the balance of neurotransmitters in the brain is wrong. The particular name of the neurotransmitter that is affected by typical antipsychotics is dopamine.
Atypical antipsychotics affect both dopamine and other neurotransmitters such as serotonin.
Side-effects will be discussed as we consider each specific drug. The Antipsychotics Available Medicines tend to have more than one name. This can be very confusing, so we will list the antipsychotics by writing the non-proprietary name first, followed by the propriatary names in brackets. Just Click on the antipsychotic that interests you. OR Click Back on your Browser to return to the Previous Page.