Tardive Dyskinesia Treatment - Non-Chemical Approaches

Tardive dyskinesia (TD) is often the result of chemicals such as anti-psychotic medications. While symptoms may reduce as a patient's level of emotional arousal increases, symptoms can also get worse. Nonetheless, symptoms have been known to even disappear completely during sleep.

Very little research has been done when it comes to tardive dyskinesia and how this condition may respond to non-clinical, non-drug treatments such as relaxation techniques, meditation and exercise. Since there are no clinical studies of how such treatments may improve, worsen or otherwise affect the symptoms of tardive dyskinesia, it may be helpful to discuss the phenomenon of stress in general and its physical affects on the brain itself.

It is unclear what, if any, non-chemical treatments have on tardive dyskinesia symptoms. We do know however, that stress can be managed through the methods outlined earlier. If the best treatment for tardive dyskinesia is prevention and withdrawal from medications, then it is all the more important to prevent the psychoses for which neuroleptic medications are usually prescribed.