Typical antipsychotic
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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Typical antipsychotics (sometimes referred to as first generation antipsychotics, conventional antipsychotics, classical neuroleptics, or major tranquilizers) are a class of antipsychotic drugs first developed in the 1950s and used to treat psychosis (in particular, schizophrenia). Typical antipsychotics may also be used for the treatment of acute mania, agitation, and other conditions. The first typical antipsychotics to enter clinical use were the phenothiazines. Second-generation antipsychotics are known as atypical antipsychotics.
Both generations of medication tend to block receptors in the brain's dopamine pathways, but compared to the typicals, the atypicals are less likely to cause extrapyramidal motor control disabilities in patients, which include unsteady Parkinson's disease-type movements, body rigidity and involuntary tremors. These abnormal body movements can become permanent even after medication is stopped.
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High-potency and low-potency
Traditional antipsychotics are classified as either high-potency or low-potency:
| Potency | Examples | Adverse effect profile |
| high-potency | fluphenazine and haloperidol | more extrapyramidal side effects (EPS) and less histaminic (e.g. sedation), alpha adrenergic (e.g. orthostasis) and anticholinergic effects (e.g. dry mouth) |
| low-potency | chlorpromazine | fewer EPS but more H1, α1, and muscarinic blocking effects |
Low potency
- Chlorpromazine (Largactil, Thorazine)
- Thioridazine (Mellaril)
- Mesoridazine
Medium potency
- Loxapine (Loxapac, Loxitane)
- Molindone (Moban)
- Perphenazine (Trilafon)
- Thiothixene (Navane)
- Trifluoperazine (Stelazine)
High potency
- Haloperidol (Haldol, Serenace)
- Fluphenazine (Prolixin)
- Droperidol
- Zuclopenthixol (Clopixol)
- Prochlorperazine
See also
