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2 - The Therapeutic Threshold and the Point of Futility

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 October 2021

Jonathan M. Meyer  and
Stephen M. Stahl
Jonathan M. Meyer
Affiliation:
University of California, San Diego
Stephen M. Stahl
Affiliation:
University of California, Riverside and San Diego
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Summary

Prior to our modern understanding of differences in drug metabolism, it was apparent that a wide range of response to antipsychotic dosages existed, with some schizophrenia patients responding minimally regardless of dose. Whether this variation was due to nonadherence or other biological factors [1, 2], the need to quantify antipsychotic exposure and clinical response spurred interest in development of reliable laboratory assays and improved psychiatric research instruments in the 1960s. The Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS) was developed in 1962 to rate major symptom characteristics of acute psychosis, and represented an important advancement over older methods that lacked “efficiency, speed and economy” [3].

Type
Chapter
Information
The Clinical Use of Antipsychotic Plasma Levels
Stahl's Handbooks
 , pp. 34 - 59
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2021

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