Antipsychotics: History, Science, and Issues (The Story of a Drug)

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.

Jeffrey Kerner, MD, is an attending psychiatrist at Montefiore Medical Center, Bronx, NY. He is forensic coordinator of the Inpatient Unit at MMC-Wakefield and assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Albert Einstein College Of Medicine.

Bridget McCoy, MD, is a general adult psychiatry resident at Montefiore Medical Center, Bronx, NY.