Recently Professor Rachel Upthegrove, Director of the Oxford Health Biomedical Research Centre (OH BRC), discussed the impact of a gradual reduction of antipsychotics in a new National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) podcast.
Professor Upthegrove was joined by Helen Saul, Editor in Chief of NIHR Evidence and Joanna Moncrieff, Professor of Critical and Social Psychiatry at University College London.
Antipsychotic medicines reduce the risk of psychotic episodes in people with schizophrenia and long-term psychosis. But the drugs can have negative side effects such as drowsiness, dizziness and dulled emotions.
Professor Upthegrove and Professor Moncrieff discussed the pros and cons of gradual process of reduction and discontinuation of antipsychotics in people with long-term psychosis.
Professor Moncrieff is also the lead author on the paper Antipsychotic dose reduction and discontinuation versus maintenance treatment in people with schizophrenia and other recurrent psychotic disorders in England (the RADAR trial): an open, parallel-group, randomised controlled trial, published in Lancet Psychiatry.
Listen to the podcast below or on the NIHR Evidence website.
