A review about spontaneous movements disorders in schizophrenia

Abstract

Spontaneous movements disorders are frequently observed in schizophrenia. Together with the negative and cognitive symptoms, they comprise manifestations more linked to the damage of this complex condition, although they are insufficient to make the diagnosis. When the psychotic symptoms express these phenomena, they have probably been causing deleterious effects for years.
Within these intrinsic components, motor disorders are the most delayed, paradoxically, as a consequence of the progress of pharmacotherapy. Treatment with antipsychotics modified the clinical symptoms of schizophrenia by developing improvements in positive symptoms, disorganization and agitation, but also produced a change of another order, with the side effects that, many times, had difficulty in being distinguished from the pathology itself. Above all, the specific neuroleptics share to a greater or lesser extent of the production of extrapyramidal symptoms, classically expressed in motor alterations. Therefore, these abnormal movements are often mistakenly associated with antipsychotic medication in an exclusive manner, overshadowing primary motor manifestations. The objective of this work is to highlight the characteristics, importance and relationship with the conventional therapy of spontaneous movements disorders in schizophrenia.