'Antipsychotic drugs made me want to kill myself'

5 May 2012 Last updated at 21:14 ET By Melissa Hogenboom BBC News

While antipsychotic drugs are seen as the most effective treatment of psychotic episodes, they are also recognised to have devastating side effects.

Doctors say many patients don't like taking medication long term, but a study published in the Lancet suggests that taking antipsychotic medication more than halves the risk of relapse in schizophrenic patients.

"I used to see nasty, dirty rat-like things running around when I went outside, I could see people in the streets screaming abuse at me and making obscene and threatening gestures.

"I was hearing a voice that was saying all kinds of nasty things about me. I was terrified, I tried to kill myself."

David Strange was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia when he was 25. He was sectioned and given antipsychotic drugs, which he says made him feel "a bit better for a while," but gave him a succession of unpleasant side effects.

When I first became ill, I was warned there are certain drugs that weaken the lower lip, even now I still dribble

But without medication, the voice he hears is a constant stream of abuse that "comments on what other people are thinking and the horrible things they want to do to me".

Professor of psychiatry Stefan Leucht, from the Technische Universitat in Munich, led the latest research. He also found that fewer patients on antipsychotic drugs were readmitted to hospital - one of the highest costs associated with mental illnesses.

David says taking antipsychotic drugs for 14 years has helped him deal with his hallucinations and the voices he hears. They are still present but they no longer dominate his life.

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'Antipsychotic drugs made me want to kill myself'