Newer antipsychotics and antidepressants for elderly people

The newer antipsychotics and antidepressants offer distinct clinical advantages over older agents. Specifically, treatment with the atypical antipsychotic agents clozapine and risperidone has resulted in greater reduction in negative symptoms associated with schizophrenia. Also, the atypical antipsychotic drugs have been associated with a lower risk of extrapyramidal symptoms, such as parkinsonism and tardive dyskinesia, relative to typical agents. For antidepressants, the safety profile of the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors nefazodone and venlafaxine, in terms of anticholinergic side effects, cardiac toxicity, and overdose lethality, is superior to the older tricyclic antidepressants and monoamine oxidase inhibitors.