NEWER ANTIPSYCHOTICS AND ANTIDEPRESSANTS FOR ELDERLY PEOPLE

The newer antipsychotics and antidepressants offer distinct clinical a dvantages over older agents. Specifically, treatment with the atypical antipsychotic agents clozapine and risperidone has resulted in greate r reduction in negative symptoms associated with schizophrenia. Also, the atypical antipsychotic drugs have been associated with a lower ris k of extrapyramidal symptoms, such as parkinsonism and tardive dyskine sia, relative to typical agents. For antidepressants, the safety profi le of the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors nefazodone and venla faxine, in terms of anticholinergic side effects, cardiac toxicity, an d overdose lethality, is superior to the older tricyclic antidepressan ts and monoamine oxidase inhibitors.