STOP Treating Behaviors with Restraining Medications

FDA Approves a New Drug to Treat Agitation in People Living with Alzheimer — What Are They Thinking?!?!

By Teepa Snow, MS, OTR/L, FAOTA, Expert Advocate Opinion

Review my blog post in response to the National Alzheimer’s Plan for background thoughts from January 2023.

I want to wave a red flag on the inaccurate use of the language used in response to the FDA’s approval of Rexulti to treat agitation in Alzheimer disease. Rexulti is a drug originally developed to treat hallucinations when someone has schizophrenia, and more recently it is being used as a secondary medication to treat depression that is not resolved with an anti-depressant alone.

The words of concern are:

• Agitation
• Aggression
• Psychosis
• Alzheimer
• Treat

Agitation is a non-specific word that is used by people to describe anything from pacing or repetitive questions, to attempting to bite, making verbal sexual advances, or destroying property.