WHAT IS AN ATYPICAL ANTIPSYCHOTIC

This is an exciting time for research into the drug treatment of schiz ophrenia. Modern techniques in imaging and molecular biology have cont ributed to our understanding of the receptor mechanisms of antipsychot ic drug action. Several new antipsychotics are, or will shortly be, av ailable and each of these new drugs promise improvements over classica l antipsychotics. This review will discuss the concept of atypicality in antipsychotic drugs, and will describe some of the models for ident ification of improved antipsychotic action. The various receptor mecha nisms proposed to underlie atypical antipsychotic action, several of w hich have featured in recent debates in this journal, will be consider ed in the light of the pharmacology of some of the newly-emerging anti psychotic drugs.