Schizophrenia and Metabolic Syndrome: Advocacy and Collaborative Practice

What is this article about?

Over the past three years I have worked with a mental health psychiatry team, participating once per week in caring for clients living with schizophrenia. Because they are administered the antipsychotic medicine clozapine, the clients' conditions are reviewed monthly. Clozapine has been found to be an effective second-generation antipsychotic in persons with schizophrenia who are resistant to treatment with other antipsychotic medicines. Clozapine’s unique side effect profile includes a number of serious adverse effects such as blood dyscrasias, myocarditis and cardiomyopathy, requiring regular haematological monitoring.