How do anti psychotics work?

[Ballerina123]

How do anti psychotic mediations work? Like how do they stop you hallucinating and being paranoid?

Does anyone know?

[tamobhuuta]

i think they change the levels of dopamine in the brain. high levels of dopamine have been associated with psychotic symptoms. are you on an anit-psychotic? if so your doctor would probably give a much better explanation!

[chinahorse]

I agree with Miriam about asking the person you are prescribed them by, in the mean time this leaflet whilst over simplified is a good starting point.

http://www.rcpsych.ac.uk/mentalhealt...edication.aspx

[Ami]

The theory is that psychosis is caused by high amounts of dopamine, (but the theory is now changing that many other neurotransmitters are involved including glutamate), and this causes your brain to perceive things differently.

The older antipsychotics generally are very strong dopamine (d2) receptor blockers, so although you may still have higher levels, the receptors on the post synaptic cell are not activated, so the effects of having high dopamine are reduced. But this causes movement disorders.

The newer antipsychotics tend to block serotonin (5HT-2) receptors, and block dopamine receptors in a slightly different way to the older ones, but the concept is pretty much the same.
x

[Ballerina123]

Thanks. I was just wondering.

EDIT: does this mean that if I take anti psychotics and I'm still seeing think that thoes things are actually real and I'm not psychotic.
Because surly if I'm takin my meds and still seeing things then the things I see are actually real, not hallusinations like the doctor said ?

[Pappi]

Well, no, not necassarily because who is to say that those particular meds at that dose is working for you? That's why theere are different doses, someone with schizophrenia isn't going to respond to 2mg of abilify hence they get 30mg: does that make sense?

Depending on which anti psychotic you're taking will depend on how it works. When I was in the clinical room I was looking at a poster which explained it and it mentioned dopamine receptors, I think they cover them up almost like a blanket to stop overactivity(that's how olanzapine was described) whereas abilify covers it then doesn't then does to slow down the process, hence for me abilify isn't as effective as olanzapine. - this is how it was explained to me.

Usually in your CMHT do they not have drug sheets that explain different meds on them? They do in mine. Xx

[Ami]

Yea most causes of psychosis are described as 'therories', people used to think high dopamine was the cause but now more research has lead to other therories... the brain is very complex so its hard to pin point exactly where or what the chemical imbalances are and same with meds ..... the exact places they act on in the brain isnt very well understood. They also arent very specific in hitting their target receptors which is why they cause a lot of unrelated side effects. x

[[Luna]]

Hi lovely,
From personal experience, I started on anti-psychotics when I turned 18 and was transferred to the adult services. I was put on Olanzapine for auditory and tactile hallucinations. I continued the hear, see and feel the things I had been and my meds were changed to Aripiprizole. The Abilify helped with the voices but I got hand and legs tremors very badly so was switched to Respiridone.

I went through loads of switches and combinations which had very little impact on my symptoms and I got more and more convinced what I was experiencing was real; however, when I was admitted as IP for a long stint I was put on Quetiapine and the difference has been amazing! I don't get consumed by the voices and the tactile sensations, the symptoms are nowhere near as damaging as they were before and my quality of life has improved greatly.

The point of my ramble is to talk to the people in charge of your care and keep in mind that if one medication doesn't work, it doesn't automatically mean the voices or whatever you're experiencing are real and that medication isn't for you. Sometimes it's a long old journey finding out what works and what suits you but often, when meds do work they can be so beneficial to your life and help you move forward.
God, I hope this makes sense. Thinking of you xx