Helping Address the Impact of Tardive Dyskinesia

I'm Dr Jackson. In my experience, patients often don't recognize the true effect that tardive dyskinesia, otherwise known as TD, can have on their lives. I found that patients may think something like having trouble eating food or feeling embarrassed about others seeing their uncontrollable body movements may not seem important to bring up during a checkup with their health care provider. Through conversations I've had with fellow physicians, I know many have relied on a diagnostic scale that has been used for almost a half a century, a scale that only measures the physical manifestations of TD and doesn't fully consider the psychological and social impact this chronic condition can have. I, along with a group of doctors, decided that we needed to fix this gap in communication between doctors and patients, which led us to the creation of the IMPACT-TD scale. This new scale helps address this problem as a first of its kind holistic tool that looks at all aspects of the patient's life prompting doctors with the right questions to ask beyond just physical symptoms and giving the patient a chance to take part in their own diagnosis. I'm so incredibly proud to have been able to work on this project and I hope that this scale will have a positive impact for those living with TD. People living with TD deserve to have open conversations with their doctors where they feel seen and heard. And doctors deserve the have a tool that can help them facilitate these discussions. We at Teva are so proud to have been able to support the creation of the IMPACT-TD scale, and thank Dr Jackson and his colleagues for their innovative thinking and dedication to the TD community.