Pharmacotherapy of schizophrenia in Germany

The practice of pharmacotherapy of schizophrenia in Germany is based both on clinical experience and research findings. Experience and studies emphasize that neuroleptic medication is severely limited by side effects including acute extrapyramidal syndromes and tardive dyskinesia. Comparing neuroleptic doses in both acute and maintenance therapy have clinicians encouraged to evaluate methods for treating patients with the lowest effective dose. Other studies have shown that the plasma level may be helpful when deciding which is the best treatment for the illness. More precise results for determining the optimum dose of antipsychotic compounds in the future may be available from positron emission tomography (PET), and from fluorine-magnetic-resonance spectroscopy (FMRS). The management of patients whose illness are refractory to conventional neuroleptics is also discussed. Benzamides and clozapine, both atypical neuroleptics, may be more effective than other available compounds for the severely ill, or for patients who are unable to tolerate the neurological side effects of typical neuroleptics.