Risperidone and Autism
Ranking:
Aims and Claims
Aims
Risperidone, like other antipsychotic drugs, was developed to treat a wide variety of significant behavioural problems such as aggression, irritability and self-injury.
According to Jesner et al (2007), atypical antipsychotics like risperidone
‘… act by blocking dopamine receptors (D2) in the brain, and may also affect cholinergic, alpha-adrenergic, histaminergic and serotonergic receptors.”*
Claims
There have been various claims made for the use of risperidone as a treatment for autistic people. For example
- Boon-Yasidhi V. et al. (2002) claimed that risperidone “… produced clinically meaningful decreases in problem behaviors including hyperactivity, irritability, and aggressiveness”.
- Capone et al (2008) claimed that risperidone produced “… improvement on important target behaviors such as aggression, disruptiveness, self-injury, stereotypy, and social withdrawal.”
- Fayyazi et al (2014) claimed that risperidone was effective in “… reducing … hyperactivity disruptive/stereotypic, and conduct problems.”
- McDougle et al (1997) claimed “Significant improvement was seen in measures of interfering repetitive behavior, aggression and impulsivity, and some elements of impaired social relatedness.”
- Williams et al (2006) claimed that risperidone produced “significant increases in adaptive behavior in the areas of communication, daily living skills, and socialization.”
*Notes: acetylcholine, alpha-adrenergics, dopamine, histamine and serotonin are all neurotransmitters which play a key part in regulating how the body functions. They work by acting on special parts of cells within the brain and the central nervous system.
- Updated
- 17 Jun 2022
- Last Review
- 01 Jul 2018
- Next Review
- 01 Jul 2024