Aripiprazole Worsens Psychosis: A Case Report

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Sir: Aripiprazole is a second-generation antipsychotic medicationwith a unique mechanism of action. It acts as a functionalantagonist or functional agonist at dopamine and serotonin receptors,depending upon the level of the relevant neurotransmitterin the immediate environment, and for this reason, it isknown as a dopamine-serotonin system stabilizer.¹ Due to thepartial-agonist D2 receptor activity of aripiprazole, it has beensuggested to worsen psychosis.²We report a case in which the unique mechanism of actionof aripiprazole probably contributed to relapse of psychoticsymptoms.