Abstract

PEREZ ESCUDERO, Adela; GIL MOLINA, Santiago; PINA CAMACHO, Laura  and  GARCIA-CABEZA, Ignacio. Psychopharmacology of Psychosis: Choice of Drug, Treatment Adherence and New Horizons. Clínica y Salud [online]. 2010, vol.21, n.3, pp.271-283. ISSN 2174-0550.

The authors present an update on the antipsychotic treatment of psychosis, focusing on 3 aspects: choice of antipsychotic drugs, the problem of adherence and treatments still being investigated. The antipsychotic drug chosen in the treatment should take into consideration the individual characteristics of each patient, patients’ preferences and the clinical characteristics of the disease. The principal treatment guidelines in order to make an adequate choice of drug, considering the action mechanism and secondary effects profile, clinical response, disease phase, resistant patients, and so on, are reviewed. One of the most important problems of drug treatment in psychosis is to achieve a good adherence rate. Thus, the psychopharmacological, psychotherapeutical and psychosocial strategies that may favor this are reviewed. Current research focuses on the search for new drugs with atypicity characteristics similar to those that already exist (blockage of multiple receptors, partial dopamine agonism), already known atypical drugs with new presentations, mostly delayed action drugs that may favor adherence, and new targets, especially action on the glutamatergic pathway.

Keywords : psychosis; classic antipsychotics; atypical antipsychotics; adherence.

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