Pharmacologic Substance
antipsychotic agent
[ an-tee-sahy-kot-ik, an-tahy- ey-juhnt ]
Subclass of:
Tranquilizing Agents
Definitions related to antipsychotic agents:
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(antipsychotic) A drug used to treat schizophrenia and other severe mental health disorders; relieves symptoms such as delusions and hallucinations.Harvard Dictionary of Health TermsHarvard Medical Publishing, 2011
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A type of drug used to treat symptoms of psychosis. These include hallucinations (sights, sounds, smells, tastes, or touches that a person believes to be real but are not real), delusions (false beliefs), and dementia (loss of the ability to think, remember, learn, make decisions, and solve problems). Most antipsychotic agents block the action of certain chemicals in the nervous system.NCI Dictionary of Cancer TermsU.S. National Cancer Institute, 2021
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Also known as neuroleptics, major tranquilizers, or antischizophrenics, natural or synthetic. Antipsychotic Agents relieve and control the symptoms of schizophrenic illness (hallucinations, delusions, dementia). Most antipsychotic agents interfere with various neurotransmitter functions, often blocking dopamine receptors, and induce diverse behavioral, endocrine, motor-kinetic effects. (NCI04)NCI ThesaurusU.S. National Cancer Institute, 2021
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Class of drugs used to treat symptoms of schizophrenia and other psychotic behavior; includes neuroleptics.CRISP ThesaurusNational Institutes of Health, 2006
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Agents that control agitated psychotic behavior, alleviate acute psychotic states, reduce psychotic symptoms, and exert a quieting effect. They are used in SCHIZOPHRENIA; senile dementia; transient psychosis following surgery; or MYOCARDIAL INFARCTION; etc. These drugs are often referred to as neuroleptics alluding to the tendency to produce neurological side effects, but not all antipsychotics are likely to produce such effects. Many of these drugs may also be effective against nausea, emesis, and pruritus.NLM Medical Subject HeadingsU.S. National Library of Medicine, 2021
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Antipsychotic drugs are divided into conventional antipsychotics and 2nd-generation antipsychotics (SGAs) based on their specific neurotransmitter receptor affinity and activity. SGAs may offer some advantages, both in terms of modestly greater efficacy (although recent evidence casts doubt on SGAs' advantage as a class) and reduced...Merck & Co., Inc., 2020
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Antipsychotic drug, any agent used in the treatment of psychosis, a form of mental illness. Psychoses can affect cognitive processes such as judgment and frequently cause delusions and hallucinations. The most widely known psychosis is schizophrenia. Effective treatments for some forms of...Encyclopedia Britannica, Inc., 2020
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