Are movement disorders the most serious side effects of maintenance therapy with antipsychotic drugs?

This paper concerns assessment of the full range of risks associated with prolonged use of antipsychotic medication. It is generally accepted that the most common side effects of drug therapy involve motor problems. Movement disorders arise because antipsychotics, in a substantial proportion of patients, disrupt the basal ganglia. The basal ganglia, however, are involved in much more than simply motor control. Specifically, this neural system has been implicated in sensory reactivity, attention, memory, and cognition. It follows from this that antipsychotic drugs, in addition to causing motor problems, might also disrupt complex psychological processes.