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Antipsychotics have been around since the 1950s and play a major role in the treatment of schizophrenia.

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While the drugs have advanced and have far fewer side effects, all of the drugs have a similar way of affecting the brain.

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Antipsychotic drugs bind to certain, but not all, dopamine receptors, but do not cause action potentials on the post-synaptic neuron.

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While they are bound to the receptors, they prevent or block the dopamine from binding so dopamine has a much smaller impact at the synapse.

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Research over the years has come to focus on the ventral tegmental area.

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The ventral tegmental area is one of two regions of the brain that have dopamine producing neurons.

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Neurons leave the ventral tegmental area and travel to many regions of the forebrain.

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It is these dopamine neurons that antipsychotic drugs block.