What is long-acting injectable antipsychotics?

These are medicines that you get as a shot instead of as a pill. Doctors use them to treat certain mental health conditions, such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. The medicine releases slowly when it's given as shots. This means the medicine stays in your body longer than if you take a pill.

Shots may be a choice if you often forget to take pills or if you get certain side effects from pills. Or you may try shots because you relapsed while on pills. In a relapse, your symptoms return. Shots may help prevent relapse because they keep a steady amount of medicine in the body.

You go to your doctor's office to get a shot. It's usually given in the arm or the rear end (buttocks). How often you get a shot depends on the type of medicine. You may get it every few weeks, once a month, or every few months.