Dopamine Hypothesis

Psychosis is an abnormal condition of the mind where thoughts become disturbed, causing one to lose touch with reality. This can possess as symptoms such as delusions and hallucinations, along with negative emotional changes such as social withdrawal. Psychotic episodes can be associated with an underlying mental disorder, but can also occur from stressful events in one’s lifetime or the abuse of illegal drugs (such as methamphetamine). In any case, chemically, dopamine is responsible for psychosis, which will be discussed below.
Dopamine is a neurotransmitter in the brain with multiple functions. It has a role in motor control which is modulated through the nigro-striatal system, a role in behavior which is modulated through the mesolimbic and mesocortical systems, and a role in endocrine control which is modulated through the tuberoinfundibular system. The dopamine hypothesis of schizophrenia states that psychosis occurs when there is too much dopamine in the brain. This occurs through its role in the mesocortical system. There is much evidence to support this theory. For example, as mentioned previously, illegal drug abuse with substances that release dopamine in the brain such as cocaine, amphetamine, methamphetamine, and ecstasy, can cause symptoms of
Although a highly life-impacting side effect, there are no NICE guidelines available for treating akathisia, and there are no treatment guidelines available for this in the BNFC or the BNF 70. Searching for literature in databases such as Web of Science and Cochrane gives search results such as case reports and double-blind studies, repeatedly mentioning that a specific benzodiazepine, clonazepam, may be effective in treating antipsychotic-induced akathisia. In fact, clonazepam is used off-label in the United States and United Kingdom for this specific indication. This means that clonazepam is likely to be useful in the treatment of EPSEs, including