Tardive dyskinesia (TD)

It started with uncontrollably blinking and stretching my nose/top lip. I remember myself and my close family being quite confused as to why I was doing it!

Tardive means delayed or appearing late – TD usually develops after you've been taking medication for a few months, or sometimes years.
Dyskinesia means abnormal or unusual movements.

Signs and symptoms of tardive dyskinesia

Learn about the signs of tardive dyskinesia and the symptoms it can cause.

>>

Causes of tardive dyskinesia

Find out how tardive dyskinesia can be a side effect of medication. And the things that can increase your risk of developing it.

>>

Treatment for tardive dyskinesia

Learn how changes to your medication and other treatments could help with tardive dyskinesia.

>>

Managing tardive dyskinesia

Living with tardive dyskinesia can be hard. But there are some things you can do that may help. Find out more.

>>

Supporting someone with tardive dyskinesia

Find our tips for supporting a friend or family member with tardive dyskinesia.

>>

Was this page useful? Yes No Tell us more Tell us more

X

Tell us more

Why did you visit this page? *

For my own mental health
For someone else’s mental health
Academic/educational/professional reason
Other reason

What do you want to tell us about?

Praise – things we do well
Criticism – things we could do better
Errors, mistakes or broken links

Please give us your feedback:

Note:

Please don’t include personal details like your name or email address. If you do, data protection law means we’ll have to delete your comments.
Unfortunately we can’t reply to this. If you want a response from us, see our Contact us page.
If you are in crisis right now and want to talk to someone urgently then you could call Samaritans on 116 123 (freephone). Our pages on crisis services have more options.

There has been a problem submitting your feedback.

Thankyou for providing your feedback.

Published: January 2025

Next review planned: January 2028

References and bibliography available on request.

If you want to reproduce this content, see our permissions and licensing page.

Campaigning

Volunteering

Donating