Akathisia manifests as pacing and a total inability to sit still. If forced to sit still the person experiences extreme anxiety and agitation.
In bad cases the anxiety and agitation may get worse even while the person is moving. Akathisia is dangerous in that it couples an extremely unpleasant experience with an intense urge to act, possibly leading to suicide attempts.
Akathisia is a common extrapyramidal side-effect of antipsychotic (aka neuroleptic) drugs. Akathisia usually responds well to drugs commonly used to control extrapyramidal side-effects.
Akathisia can, more rarely, be caused by anti-depressants or occur spontaneously.
The presence and severity of Akathisia may be measured using the Barnes Akathisia Scale:
- T. R. E. Barnes, A Rating Scale for Drug-Induced Akathisia, British Journal of Psychiatry, vol 154, pp. 672-676, 1989
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