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Clinical Dosing of Neuroleptics

  • Conference paper
Clinical Pharmacology in Psychiatry

Part of the book series: Psychopharmacology Series ((PSYCHOPHARM,volume 10))

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Abstract

The antipsychotic, or neuroleptic, drugs were introduced in the early 1950s (Laborit et al. 1952) and, since then, they and other effective and well accepted psychotropic agents have had a revolutionary impact on the theory and practice of contemporary psychiatry worldwide (Baldessarini 1985, 1990a). Despite their exposure to intensive study and clinical application for four decades, many fundamental aspects of the clinical pharmacology of the neuroleptics remain remarkably poorly informed by research data. The present overview considers relationships between dose or plasma concentrations and the effects of this class of commonly used agents. Optimal dosing for maximum efficacy and safety of most antipsychotic drugs largely escaped serious scientific scrutiny until surprisingly recently. Since 1980, a substantial body of appropriately designed, randomized, double-blind studies of the clinical benefits and side effects of some antipsychotic agents has been carried out with acutely and chronically psychotic patients treated for periods ranging from several hours to several months (Baldessarini et al. 1988, 1990). In addition, there have been studies of relationships between plasma concentrations of neuroleptic agents and their effects which complement studies of dose-effect relationships.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Departments of Psychiatry and Neuroscience Program, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA

    R. J. Baldessarini, B. M. Cohen & M. H. Teicher

  2. Laboratories for Psychiatric Research, Psychotic Disorders Program, and Developmental Biopsychiatry Program, McLean Hospital, Belmont, MA, 02178, USA

    R. J. Baldessarini, B. M. Cohen & M. H. Teicher

Authors
  1. R. J. Baldessarini
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  2. B. M. Cohen
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  3. M. H. Teicher
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Dept. of Clinical Pharmacology, Odense University, Winsløwparken 19, 5000, Odense C, Denmark

    Lars F. Gram

  2. I.U.P.G., Unité de Recherche Clinique, 47, Rue du XXXI Décembre, 1207, Genève, Switzerland

    Luc P. Balant

  3. Department of Psychiatry, Case Western Res. Univ., 2040 Abington Road, Cleveland, Ohio, 44106, USA

    Herbert Y. Meltzer

  4. Institute of Medicinal Biology, University of Tromsø, P.O. Box 977, 9037, Tromsø, Norway

    Svein G. Dahl

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© 1993 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Baldessarini, R.J., Cohen, B.M., Teicher, M.H. (1993). Clinical Dosing of Neuroleptics. In: Gram, L.F., Balant, L.P., Meltzer, H.Y., Dahl, S.G. (eds) Clinical Pharmacology in Psychiatry. Psychopharmacology Series, vol 10. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-78010-3_14

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-78010-3_14

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-78012-7

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-78010-3

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