Agitation is common among patients with schizophrenia or bipolar disorder and its management can be both traumatic and costly when coercive methods, physical restraint and inpatient treatment with prolonged hospitalisation are required.

Early non-physical management of the agitated patient with non-invasive de-escalation techniques, which aim to reduce agitation and distress and avert aggression or violence, protects the therapeutic alliance between patients and their healthcare providers and acknowledges the ethical and legal rights of individual patients.

Inhaled loxapine is approved for the treatment of acute agitation in adults with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder and can be used as part of non-coercive management protocols alongside techniques such as verbal de-escalation for cooperative patients and may be a suitable agent for self-administered treatment of agitation in a community setting from the onset of symptoms.