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Re: Abilify and dopamine

Posted by Christ_empowered on January 21, 2011, at 10:00:21

In reply to Abilify and dopamine, posted by herpills on January 21, 2011, at 7:21:07

I'm not a doctor or all that into the technical aspects of meds, but...here's how its been explained to me, and what I've experienced.

Abilify is a high-potency antipsychotic. This mean it occupies a really, really high % of d2 receptors in the normal dose range. The "partial agonism" is a little more complicated. At lower doses, especially mixed with an antidepressant, Abilify can be somewhat stimulating. This happens with older antipsychotics, too; I read a small study once where they found that giving participants a micro-dose of Haldol (of all things!) improved speed, reaction time, and decreased errors on some sort of test they were giving them.

The higher up you go, the less stimulating/more "soothing" Abilify is. When I took 7.5-10mgs, I had less anxiety, but I also felt a mood "lift," albeit a minor one. As you go up higher, the D2 partial agonism still works, but its effects seem (to me) to be more in limiting EPS and cognitive dulling---the 30mgs dose I take, for instance, is great for mania and psychosis, but doesn't have any mood-elevating properties.


This was completely non-technical and based primarily on my own experience and what shrinks have told me. I hope it helped you a bit.


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