Atypical
Antipsychotic (Wiki)
Also
referred to as a Novel Antipsychotics
Please note: Dosage equivalents are provided for certain
drugs below and are denoted as unit equivalents, i.e. one
unit of drug x is roughly the equivalent as one unit of
drug y, where the dosage equal to one unit
varies.
Regarded as second generation antipsychotics, atypical antipsychotics
are the first line of
defence against psychotic illnesses and some have also proven useful in
the treatment of manic and/or depressive illnesses. Compared to typical antipsychotics, these drugs induce far fewer unwanted
side effects, especially ones related to unwanted
movement.
The first drug of this family was Clozapine, discovered in the 1950s and first
marketed in the 1970s; interestingly, it remains the
most powerful antipsychotic of this family. Recently, more
inoffensive atypical antipsychotics
have surfaced,
including aripiprazole, quetiapine and olanzapine, all introduced in the last twenty
years.
Generally speaking, the older typical antipsychotics are more effective in treating
psychosis, but also tend to cause more
side effects.