This resource was selected by SMI Adviser content partners and approved by the SMI Adviser clinical expert team for inclusion in the knowledge base.
Patients with first episode psychosis typically require strategies to prescribe and monitor use of antipsychotic medications that are different from treating those with established psychosis. This resource reviews strategies for prescribing antipsychotics in first episode psychosis (FEP). In contrast to patients with established psychotic illness, those with first episode psychosis have differences in dosage range, response rates, and vulnerability to side effects. Relapse is common, particularly in those who discontinue their antipsychotic medications. This resource will be useful for frontline clinicians in coordinated specialty care programs focused on first episode psychosis or when they are treating these patients in other mental health settings.