Antipsychotics for people with dementia and severe behavioural problems Antipsychotics for people with dementia
and severe behavioural problems

How long is an antipsychotic medicine needed?

Unlike long-term mental illnesses, behavioural or psychological problems caused by dementia tend to come and go, and may only occur for a few months at a time. This means that a doctor should review the situation regularly to see if the antipsychotic medicine can be stopped. People with dementia who stay on antipsychotics longer than they need to, get the side effects without any real benefit.

What else is helpful?

When someone with dementia has behavioural or psychological symptoms, checking for other causes should always be the first step. Agitation, anxiety, delusions, or aggressive or other worrying behaviour can actually be caused by another problem such as clinical depression, a physical condition (which might be pain, constipation or hearing loss), or the side effects of a medicine. Finding and treating the cause can stop the distress.

Non-medicine therapies, changes to routines, and alternative approaches to communication can improve the mood and behaviour of people with dementia. These approaches are less likely to cause problems than using a medicine and should be tried before starting an antipsychotic medicine.

If you are caring for a person with dementia at home, see this page of resources for links to support organisations that can provide advice, training and information.