Schizophrenia is a mental disorder in which the patient suffers from disintegration of thought process and of emotional responsiveness. A person who suffers from schizophrenia will have hallucinations, delusions and disorganized thinking and speech. Research has been going on for the treatment of this disease. Scientists believe that antipsychotic medication can be a treatment of this disease.
Antipsychotic medications are considered as the best mode of treatment for mental ailments like schizophrenia, psychotic agitation and bipolar disorder and are also used in the treatment of non-psychotic ailments like autism, Tourette syndrome and anxiety. These medications are known to block the receptors in the brain. They are called dopamine antagonists where Dopamine is a neurotransmitter that ensures that messages are passed from one brain cell to another.
Typical antipsychotics are also known as first generation antipsychotics (developed first in 1950s). This method is rarely used for the treatment of psychotic symptoms like prochlorperazine. There are second generation antipsychotics, which are referred to as atypical antipsychotics. The second generation actually replaces the first generation in certain factors. Typical antisychotics are also used for the treatment of agitations, acute mania etc.
Antipsychotic restricts or slows down the function of dopamine. Dopamine is one of the neurotransmitters in the brain and they are responsible for the stimulation between the brain cells. So if there is an excess of dopamine too much stimulation occurs which leads to unclear messages and hence shows symptoms of psychosis. Antipsychotics are dopamine antagonists and they restrict the absorption of dopamine from the blood.