the.com/antipsychotic
A chemical argument with your dopamine receptors, and dopamine usually loses.
means A medication used to treat psychosis and related conditions by altering the brain's chemical signaling, most often by blocking dopamine receptors.
from Straightforward Greek-rooted coinage: 'anti-' meaning against, plus 'psychotic,' itself from 'psyche' (mind, soul) and the suffix indicating a condition or disorder. The class of drugs emerged in the mid-20th century, originally called 'neuroleptics' (a term describing how they seize or clamp down on nervous activity) before 'antipsychotic' became the more common, purpose-describing name.
- original name
- once marketed as major tranquilizers, not antipsychotics
- mechanism
- mostly blocks dopamine D2 receptors in the brain
- first discovery
- chlorpromazine emerged from antihistamine research in 1950
- tradeoff
- quiets delusions but can trade them for metabolic weight gain