Friday, October 19, 2007

Schizophrenics gain by practice, not meds

A U.S. study suggested cognitive gains in schizophrenic patients treated with newer antipsychotic medications are due to practice effects, not the drugs.

Second-generation antipsychotic medicines were designed to improve the speed, clarity, and rationality of thought among people with schizophrenia and other psychotic illnesses.

But psychiatric researchers at the Zucker Hillside Hospital and the Feinstein Institute for Medical Research studied the cognitive performance of 104 people newly diagnosed with schizophrenia who were taking second-generation medicines.

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