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J Am Acad Psychiatry Law 35:2:235-246 (2007)
Copyright © 2007 by the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law.
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ANALYSIS AND COMMENTARY

Legal Fallacies of Antipsychotic Drugs

Steven K. Erickson, JD, LLM, PhD, J. Richard Ciccone, MD, Steven B. Schwarzkopf, MD, J. Steven Lamberti, MD and Michael J. Vitacco, PhD

Dr. Erickson is a MIRECC Fellow, Yale University/VA Healthcare Network, West Haven, CT; Dr. Ciccone is Director, Psychiatry and Law Program, and Professor, Department of Psychiatry, University of Rochester Medical Center, Rochester, NY; Dr. Schwarzkopf is Clinical Associate Professor, Department of Psychiatry, University of Rochester Medical Center, Rochester, NY; Dr. Lamberti is Director, Long-Term Care Program, University of Rochester Medical Center, and Associate Professor of Psychiatry, Department of Psychiatry, University of Rochester Medical Center, Rochester, NY; and Dr. Vitacco is Associate Director of Research, Mendota Mental Health Institute, Madison, WI. Address correspondence to: Steven K. Erickson, JD, LLM, PhD, Yale University/VA Healthcare Center, 950 Campbell Avenue, Bldg. 36, West Haven, CT 06516. E-mail: steven.erickson{at}yale.edu

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.






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Copyright © 2007 by the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law.