How to manage the dose of medication for psychiatric patients?

  In general, the use of antipsychotic drugs should follow the following principles: 1. The initial dose should be small, i.e., the first dose should not be too large, and the lowest dose of a single dose is usually used.  2, increase the dose of the patter to achieve the desired therapeutic effect. Must be increased to make the daily dose to an effective dose. The method of increasing the dose is generally divided into two, one is the fast method: that is, the daily increase in drug dose, until it is effective to stop adding drugs. The other is the slow addition method: that is, every 2-3 days or 3-5 days to increase the amount of medication, a few can also be increased once a week, gradually to the effective amount. The slow addition method is used for home care patients.  3.Reaching the effective therapeutic amount After we take the medicine, it is absorbed into the blood, and when the drug in the blood reaches a certain level, it can produce clinical efficacy, and the amount of medicine at that time is the effective amount. Each patient’s physical condition is different. Therefore, their effective dose is different. Therefore, the use of drugs must be individualized according to each patient.  4.Consolidation of efficacy After the application of drugs to achieve effective treatment, the dose must be maintained for a certain period of time, usually 15-30 days, which can be shortened or extended according to the condition.  5. Slowly reduce the medication After the general time consolidation treatment, start to reduce the medication, but its speed should be slow, not abruptly and drastically reduce the amount of medication, otherwise it is easy to make the disease recur, so that the previous work is abandoned.  After one or several courses of treatment with antipsychotics, whether the psychosis is cured or generally improved, the patient must continue to take maintenance medication for a long time. Unless the doctor thinks it is possible to reduce the dosage or stop taking the medication, you cannot take the initiative.