Main description:

The problem of serious mental illness is a widely discussed topic in the media and popular culture. This text provides a comprehensive analysis of antipsychotic medications, covering historical, social, and scientific viewpoints on this important and controversial class of medications.

Antipsychotics are unique drugs with the ability to alter how people think and communicate. As a result, physicians must weigh a range of implications when prescribing antipsychotics. Antipsychotics: History, Science, and Issues offers a robust explanation of antipsychotic medications that covers the historical, ethical, medical, legal, and scientific dimensions of antipsychotics.

The chapters explore topics ranging from the science of how examples of this class of drug actually work in the body to the social and legal implications of antipsychotics, making this subject understandable and relatable for lay readers who are not mental health practitioners. Readers will learn why prescribing antipsychotics is often a difficult decision due to the inherent risks of giving these medications to different types of patients and appreciate how mental health laws impact psychiatrists' prescribing practices.

Covers the class of antipsychotic medications in whole, addressing topics ranging from the medications' history and the science of how they actually work in the body to the social and legal implications of antipsychotics

Provides readers with a holistic understanding of an increasingly important class of medications in an accessible format

Presents an unbiased perspective on a class of medications that has been subject to controversy

Serves both as an authoritative reference book for students and as a useful source of practical information that will appeal to a general adult audience