RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Legal Fallacies of Antipsychotic Drugs
JF Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law Online
JO J Am Acad Psychiatry Law
FD American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law
SP 235
OP 246
VO 35
IS 2
A1 Steven K. Erickson
A1 J. Richard Ciccone
A1 Steven B. Schwarzkopf
A1 J. Steven Lamberti
A1 Michael J. Vitacco
YR 2007
UL http://jaapl.org/content/35/2/235.abstract
AB Advances in the biological sciences have dramatically improved the understanding of schizophrenia and related psychotic illnesses. One of the most compelling findings is the substantial degree to which cognition is impaired in these illnesses and the remedial effects that antipsychotic drugs have in treating these cognitive impairments. Despite these promising discoveries, legal cases and scholarship remain replete with pejorative associations with antipsychotic drug action. References to antipsychotic medications as mind-altering drugs and their effects as “synthetic sanity” misconstrue the beneficial effects these medicines have on cognition. We review the prevailing legal attitude of antipsychotic medications and contrast these views with prevailing scientific knowledge. We conclude that legal opinion is misinformed about the effects of antipsychotic medications on cognition.