Patient Experiences With Antipsychotics Largely Negative, Survey Shows

The investigators suggested that studies focusing on symptom reduction, including [randomized clinical trials], may be missing the broader impact of drugs on people’s lives.

This article by Emily Pond on the Psychiatry Advisor website begins:

“According to survey results published in Schizophrenia Bulletin, the majority of patients receiving antipsychotic medications endorsed significant negative effects. Investigators at the department of psychology, University of East London in the United Kingdom created the Experiences of Antidepressants and Antipsychotic Medication Survey, which was administered online to users around the world.

… Roughly two-thirds of patients categorized their experience with antipsychotics as more negative than positive and 34.9% endorsed an ‘extremely negative’ experience. Less than a quarter (22.1%) reported largely positive experiences. Whereas 44.5% of respondents found medications unhelpful and 56.0% felt their quality of life was worse, 40.1% reported that medications were helpful and 34.9% declared improvements in quality of life. The mean OAR score was 2.83±1.93, indicating primarily negative experiences, and older patients were more likely to endorse negative scores (P =.001). Patients with a diagnosis on the schizophrenia spectrum reported more negative scores (P =.004). However, the majority of patients without schizophrenia (63.3%) also endorsed more negative than positive experiences …”

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