Objective: Adverse effects (AEs) of antipsychotic medication have important implications for patients and prescribers in terms of wellbeing, treatment adherence and quality of life. This review summarises strategies for collecting and reporting AE data across a representative literature sample to ascertain their rigour and comprehensiveness.Methods: A PsycINFO search, following PRISMA Statement guidelines, was conducted in English-language journals (1980-July 2014) using the following search string: (antipsychotic* OR neuroleptic*) AND (subjective effect OR subjective experience OR subjective response OR subjective mental alterations OR subjective tolerability OR subjective wellbeing OR patient perspective OR self-rated effects OR adverse effects OR side-effects). Of 7,825 articles, 384 were retained that reported quantified results for AEs of typical or atypical antipsychotics amongst transdiagnostic adult, adolescent, and child populations. Information extracted included: types of AEs reported; how AEs were assessed; assessment duration; assessment of the global impact of antipsychotic consumption on wellbeing; and conflict of interest due to industry sponsorship.Results: Neurological, metabolic, and sedation-related cognitive effects were reported most systematically relative to affective, anticholinergic, autonomic, cutaneous, hormonal, miscellaneous, and non-sedative cognitive effects. The impact of AEs on patient wellbeing was poorly assessed. Cross-sectional and prospective research designs yielded more comprehensive data about AE severity and prevalence than clinical or observational retrospective studies. Antipsychotic medication is associated with numerous adverse effects (AEs), ranging from mild and intermittent (e.g., dizziness and nausea) to incapacitating (e.g., extrapyramidal symptoms: EPS), some of which can disrupt an array of physical and psychological systems. [1][2][3] Since the institution of antipsychotics in the 1950s, it has been recognised that patients generate subjective interpretations of the sensations that attend drug consumption. However, the imperative for standardising psychiatric phenomena arguably led "to a gradual disregard of subjective experiences…which were relegated to 'soft' science." 4: p.55 Correspondingly, much research has prioritized efficacy and safety parameters rather than the more subjective construct of tolerability. Interest in the latter was advanced by the work of Hogan et al. psychometrically robust scales that patients can reliably complete has also advanced the research agenda. [13][14][15] This is important progress, given the necessity of auditing the relative prevalence and severity of AEs, and corresponding impact on patient wellbeing. In this respect, the substantial differences in AE profiles for different 5 antipsychotics (compared to robust, yet small, mean differences in efficacy) 16 makes the former an important component of prescribing choices and, in accordance with best-practice guidelines, can empower service-users in making inform...