Dr. Prakash S. Masand, director of the Psychiatric Consultation Service and the Regional Psychopharmacology Consultation and Training Program at the SUNY Health Science Center in Syracuse, addresses major advances in the treatment of schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders. Masand notes that a new (circa 1998) generation of antipsychotics offers several advantages over its conventional counterparts, particularly in regard to improvement of negative symptoms such as apathy, anhedonia, alogia, and avolition; better side-effect profiles include a lower risk of tardive dyskinesia as well. Masand also reviews a number of reasons patients should be switched from traditional antipsychotics to the newer therapies and describes withdrawal symptoms that may occur as a result.
