Johns Hopkins Psychiatry Guide
Neuroleptics
DEFINITION
- A class of drugs, also known as antipsychotics, primarily used to treat psychosis (i.e., hallucinations, delusions, and thought disorder)
- The word neuroleptic is derived from the Greek words for nerve and affecting (leptikos, which means seizing).
- The neuroleptics were originally understood to reduce the intensity of nerve function.
- They used to be called major tranquilizers.
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Last updated: September 27, 2025
Citation
"Neuroleptics." Johns Hopkins Psychiatry Guide, The Johns Hopkins University, 2025. Johns Hopkins Guides, www.hopkinsguides.com/hopkins/view/Johns_Hopkins_Psychiatry_Guide/787423/all/Neuroleptics.
Neuroleptics. Johns Hopkins Psychiatry Guide. The Johns Hopkins University; 2025. https://www.hopkinsguides.com/hopkins/view/Johns_Hopkins_Psychiatry_Guide/787423/all/Neuroleptics. Accessed October 28, 2025.
Neuroleptics. (2025). In Johns Hopkins Psychiatry Guide. The Johns Hopkins University. https://www.hopkinsguides.com/hopkins/view/Johns_Hopkins_Psychiatry_Guide/787423/all/Neuroleptics
Neuroleptics [Internet]. In: Johns Hopkins Psychiatry Guide. The Johns Hopkins University; 2025. [cited 2025 October 28]. Available from: https://www.hopkinsguides.com/hopkins/view/Johns_Hopkins_Psychiatry_Guide/787423/all/Neuroleptics.
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