Behavioral pharmacotherapy .1. Antipsychotics and antidepressants

Behavioral pharmacotherapy (the use of drugs to treat behavior problems) is rapidly expanding in veterinary medicine. Many of the drugs that are being tried are already widely used by psychiatrists to treat psychiatric illness in humans. This article introduces the psychopharmacologic agents most commonly used in human medicine and describes how veterinarians have used them. In particular, drugs that have been successful in treating human obsessive-compulsive disorder have been useful in treating stereotypes (compulsive disorder) in veterinary patients. This article, which is Part I of two-part presentation, discusses antipsychotic and antidepressant drugs. Part II will discuss anxiolytics and mood stabilizers. Although the human psychiatric literature serves as a useful reference, drugs tested and labeled for human psychiatric problems may have different effects, side-effects profiles, or toxicities in companion animals. Veterinarians should also remember that most of the behavioral applications of these drugs constitute extralabel use.