Akathisia

Rare card · No. 51975

Akathisia ( a-kə-THI-see-ə) is a movement disorder characterized by a subjective feeling of inner restlessness accompanied by mental distress or an inability to sit still. Usually, the legs are most prominently affected. Those affected may fidget, rock back and forth, or pace, while some may just have an uneasy feeling in their bodies. It may result in poor adherence to psychotropic medications due to the severity of the condition. Aggression, threatening behaviour, violence, and/or suicidal thoughts are also common. The attempts to find potential links between akathisia and emerging suicidal or homicidal behaviour were not systematic and were mostly based on a limited number of case reports and small case series. Apart from these few and low-quality studies, there is another more recent study (a systematic review from 2021) that concludes akathisia cannot be reliably linked to the presence of suicidal behavior in patients treated with antipsychotic medication, however this is not to be...

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