Neurology Behind the Use of Anti-psychotic Medications on a HealthyBrain

Anti-psychotic medications are used to reduce symptoms in patients with psychotic disorders, and are thought to help create mood stability in patients who suffer from mood disorders as well.

The biology of psychosis, particularly schizophrenia, is often composed of an excess of the mood enhancing neurotransmitter dopamine.  Anti-psychotic medications are dopamine inhibitors, and are thought to reduce the overproduction of this important chemical allowing the brains chemistry to become more balanced.  Over time and as the medications are continued, social and personal functioning can improve dramatically. Unfortunately side -effects overwhelm the mentally ill community who often lack the personal and emotional support necessary to thrive. 

Parkonnsons disease on the other hand is a neurological disorder that usually affects elderly individuals, and is characterized by uncontrollable tremors, movement, slurring, and stiff muscles.  This neurological disease is caused by dopamine producing neurons that die over time, in turn making the brain less capable of producing the important neurotransmitter.

Interestingly but still related, many severely mentally ill patients are often restless and complain about their symptoms of anxiety.  I have seen many young people in hospitals medicated to the point of slurring and so dysfunctional that normal activities are severely impaired.  In every case that I witnessed involving these symptoms, the illness was to blame and, the medications were rarely questioned except to find a better combination to treat the symptoms that they were causing.

In patients with an anti-psychotic medication induced disorder called akethesia, marked by constant movement, parkonnsonss-like symptoms, and mental confusion, debilitation and suicide are not uncommon results.  I personally believe that the existence of this neurological issue is under-recognized, under-reported, and is the cause of long-term debilitation in some patients with difficult-to-treat symptoms that mirror psychosis, as the anti-psychotic medications continue to pull dopamine from a brain that was never lacking it in the first place. 

  It is inevitable that if you pull dopamine from a healthy brain, neurological dysfunction will result.