The spectrum of subjective effects of antipsychotic medication

Background: This study examined the spectrum of subjective experiences which patients attribute to the use of antipsychotic medication.Methods: We collected interview data and answers to structured questions based on a comprehensive checklist in 77 patients using various types of classical or atypical antipsychotic drugs.Results: The responses of the patients could be categorized into psychological and somatic domains. The psychological domain could be subdivided into emotional, cognitive and sociability domains. The somatic set could be subdivided into activation and physiological domains.Conclusions: Our data reveal that the same effects may be experienced in either a positive or a negative way by different patients. We conclude that existing scales for measuring subjective effects of antipsychotic medication are incomplete.