Atypical Antipsychotics

First, the antipsychotics had very little effect on the so-called negative or defect symptoms, like social isolation, apathy and anhedonia, and secondly virtually all antipsychotics produced a number of side-effects, of which the neurological (often called extra­ pyramidal) side-effects were the most troublesome. This text deals with drugs which play an important role in the therapy of schizophrenia. It describes the introduction of the first antipsychotics on the market and the importance of clozapine, a prototype for atypical antipsychotics, for further investigation of other potentially atypical antipsychotics, which may have an important impact on the therapy and especially the well being of a schizophrenic patient.