Imagine you are the psychiatrist of two individuals with schizophrenia. Bobby wa

Both Bobby and Mahatma should benefit from antipsychotic medications, but the type of medications may differ.

Research shows that drugs like Thorazine and Mellaril (that only affect dopamine) do not help much for people who have an early onset of schizophrenia. For Bobby, with an early onset AND both positive and negative symptoms, the newer atypical neuroleptic drugs may be most helpful. Examples would be clozapine, olanzipine, and risperidone. These drugs tend to work on both dopamine and serotonin neurotransmitters, which means they have a tendency to be more effective in individuals such as Bobby.

Mahatma, on the other hand, has a later onset and only displays positive symptoms. Research shows that she will likely benefit from the traditional, or typical, antipsychotic medications. Some examples of these standard antipsychotics are Mellaril and Thorazine. This category of antipsychotics seems to only target dopamine activity, so less of Mahatma’s neurochemistry will be affected.

Unfortunately, both Bobby and Mahatma are at risk of developing tardive dyskinesia, and Mahatma may be at a higher risk than Bobby. In that case, the atypical antipsychotic medication may be tried on Mahatma, but that may come with other drawbacks such as expense and additional side effects.