What Is Ziprasidone Used For?

Many people wonder, "What is ziprasidone used for?" Ziprasidone is used for the treatment of bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. Occasionally, the medication can also be used "off-label" for treating Tourette syndrome, behavior problems in elderly people with dementia, and other behavioral problems. Ziprasidone has not been approved for use in children.

Ziprasidone Hydrochloride

What Is Ziprasidone Used For? -- An Overview

Part of a class of drugs known as "atypical antipsychotics," ziprasidone hydrochloride (Geodon^®) is a prescription medicine that has been licensed to treat the following conditions:

Ziprasidone and Schizophrenia

Schizophrenia is one of the most confusing and disabling mental illnesses. It is a group of mental disorders that involve abnormal thinking. Although the causes of schizophrenia are not fully understood, it is currently thought that genetics and environmental factors play an important role in developing the illness. Depending on the type of schizophrenia (see Types of Schizophrenia), symptoms may include the following:

Hallucinations
Delusions
Thought disorders
Disorders of movement
Flat affect (immobile facial expression, monotonous voice)
Lack of pleasure in everyday life
A diminished ability to initiate and sustain planned activity
Speaking infrequently, even when forced to interact
Poor executive functioning (the ability to absorb and interpret information and make decisions based on that information)
An inability to stay focused
Problems with working memory (the ability to keep recently-learned information in mind and use it right away).

Although psychotherapy may be helpful for schizophrenia (see Psychosocial Therapy for Schizophrenics), medication is often essential to schizophrenia treatment. Ziprasidone can help improve the symptoms of schizophrenia. It also helps to prevent schizophrenia relapses (worsening of schizophrenia). However, ziprasidone is not a cure for schizophrenia.

(What Is Ziprasidone Used For? Continued: Page 2)