My son had an awful experience on Risperdal too. They gave it to him in the hospital after his suicide attempt. It was a teaching hospital, and during the month he was there he had three different "psychiatrists" (who I think were actually students rotating through the job just to learn about it).

They kept raising and raising the dose of Risperdal until he was just a lump. He was thinking and talking so slowly. You would ask him a question and about a minute later he'd start answering, but he'd stop talking mid-sentence. Even at the incredibly high dose, he still had symptoms of psychosis!

One "pdoc" said they couldn't release him because he still had some paranoia. I told them he always has paranoia! I think they thought they could make him "normal" with the drug.

[One funny think, though. He was pretty paranoid about the hospital and the doctors. It made perfect sense to me why he would be. They kept saying they would release him in "three to five days." Then when three to five days were up, they'd say they needed another three to five days! Why do that to someone who is profoundly incapable of trust?]