Psychotropic drug

About: Psychotropic drug is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 2309 publications have been published within this topic receiving 54070 citations.

Basic Concepts of Psychiatric-Mental Health Nursing

Abstract: The updated Seventh Edition of this respected learning text delivers the clinically essential content psychiatric and mental health nurses need to practice with confidence. Spanning the continuum of care, this edition will help you excel in a range of settings, improve client and family education skills, and build the self-awareness you need as a member of the interdisciplinary care team. This book's wealth of new learning features and dynamic full-color design combine to create an engaging knowledge-builder you'll turn to again and again. Skill-building features are your guideposts to success! Bio-psycho-social model provides a solid learning framework that is emphasized throughout the text. Self-awareness prompts in every chapter challenge you to examine your own beliefs and attitudes about caring for mentally ill clients. Multiple-choice, NCLEX[registered]-style questions for review and exam preparation include correct and incorrect answers with rationales. An array of knowledge enhancing features - from Internet resources to Key Terms, Key Concepts, and recurring icons that highlight each step of nursing diagnosis and management - ensure that you never miss a step. Critical thinking questions and learning activities put your problem-solving abilities to the test. New to the Seventh Edition: new chapter on forensic nursing helps you build the observational and investigative abilities key to this evolving area of nursing practice; new content on spirituality, added to the chapter on cultural and ethical issues, will help you build more effective therapeutic relationships with clients; updated psychopharmacological material includes critical information on the latest drugs, their treatment applications, and limitations-plus summary tables that highlight the major drugs used for each disorder; the latest diagnostic criteria reflect DSM-IV-TR standards; and, evidence-Based Practice Boxes throughout the text stress the value of research findings in guiding treatment choices. A Student Resource CD-ROM bound into each book includes clinical simulations for major depression and schizophrenia, psychotropic drug monographs, over 300 NCLEX(r)-style review questions, and movie viewing guides.

Hyponatraemia and the Syndrome of Inappropriate Antidiuretic Hormone Secretion (SIADH) Induced by Psychotropic Drugs

Abstract: The use of psychotropic drugs has been associated with the syndrome of inappropriate antidiuretic hormone secretion (SIADH) in a number of case reports. SIADH is characterised by the sustained release of antidiuretic hormone (ADH) from the posterior pituitary. The patients have a reduced ability to excrete diluted urine, ingested fluid is retained, and the extracellular fluid expands and becomes hypo-osmolar. The cardinal signs are hyponatraemia, serum hypoosmolality and a less than maximally diluted urine. Common symptoms include weakness, lethargy, headache, anorexia and weight gain. These symptoms may be followed by confusion, convulsions, coma and death. The early symptoms are vague and nonspecific, and they may even mimic the symptoms of the psychiatric disorder itself. For antidepressants, the risk of SIADH seems to be highest during the first weeks of treatment. For antipsychotics, the risk seems to be more spread out in time. The causative role of the drug may sometimes be difficult to estimate, as even drug-free psychiatric patients, mostly those with schizophrenia, develop SIADH on the basis of psychogenic polydipsia. Smoking is another factor associated with the development of SIADH, and the risk may also increase with age. The acute treatment of SIADH induced by a psychotropic drug includes discontinuation of the drug as well as restriction of fluid intake. In cases with significant clinical symptoms, infusion of sodium chloride is recommended. After the acute management, it is useful to evaluate the causative role of the drug by performing a water loading test and/or drug rechallenge. If continued treatment with an antidepressant or antipsychotic is indicated, a drug with a different pharmacological profile should be chosen, and the serum sodium levels should be monitored closely. If treatment with the drug that caused SIADH must be continued, concomitant treatment with demeclocycline may reduce the tendency of hyponatraemia.

Off-label psychopharmacologic prescribing for children: History supports close clinical monitoring

Abstract: The review presents pediatric adverse drug events from a historical perspective and focuses on selected safety issues associated with off-label use of medications for the psychiatric treatment of youth. Clinical monitoring procedures for major psychotropic drug classes are reviewed. Prior studies suggest that systematic treatment monitoring is warranted so as to both minimize risk of unexpected adverse events and exposures to ineffective treatments. Clinical trials to establish the efficacy and safety of drugs currently being used off-label in the pediatric population are needed. In the meantime, clinicians should consider the existing evidence-base for these drugs and institute close clinical monitoring.

Single-blind follow-up study on the effectiveness of a symbiotic preparation in irritable bowel syndrome.

Abstract: OBJECTIVE: Experimental and clinical studies have shown that a novel symbiotic (known as SCM-III) exerts a beneficial effect on gut translocation and local and systemic inflammatory and microbial metabolic parameters. The present investigation was a preliminary trial on the effectiveness of SCM-III for irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). METHODS: Sixty-eight consecutive adult patients with IBS who were free from lactose malabsorption, abdominal surgery, overt psychiatric disorders and ongoing psychotropic drug therapy or ethanol abuse were studied prospectively and divided into 2 groups that were comparable for age, gender, body size, education and pattern of presenting symptoms. The 2 groups were blindly given for 12 weeks either SCM-III 10 mL t.i.d or the same dosage of heat-inactivated symbiotic. RESULTS: Treatment with SCM-III was ‘effective’ or ‘very effective’ in more than 80% of the patients (P < 0.01 vs baseline values and control). Less than 5% reported ‘not effective’ as the final evaluation compared with over 40% of patients in the control group. After 6 weeks of treatment, a significant improvement of pain and bloating was reported in the treatment group compared with control and baseline values. There was also a benefit for bowel habits, mostly for patients with constipation or alternating bowel habits. No overt clinical or biochemical adverse side-effects were recorded. CONCLUSION: Compared with baseline values and the control group, SCM-III resulted in a significant increase in lactobacilla, eubacteria and bifidobacteria, which suggests that some selected IBS patients could benefit substantially from symbiotics, but the treatment may need to be given on a cyclic schedule because of the temporary modification of the fecal flora.

Interferon-alpha can be used successfully in patients with hepatitis C virus-positive chronic hepatitis who have a psychiatric illness

Abstract: Objective To determine whether individuals with concurrent active psychiatric disease and chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) can be treated safely and effectively with interferon-alpha. Design Prospective, open label study. Setting Tertiary referral hospital. Patients Thirty-one consecutive patients with co-existent chronic HCV and a psychiatric illness. Interventions Interferon-alpha was administered at doses of either 5 MU three times per week for 6 months (n = 17) or 5 MU daily for 6 months (n = 14). Methods HCV-RNA in serum was measured using reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction. Serum alanine aminotransferase levels were assessed and liver biopsy was performed before and after 6 months of treatment and again after 6 months of follow-up. Results Twenty-nine of the 31 patients completed 6 months of therapy. Two patients discontinued therapy after 2 and 3 months of treatment. Serum alanine aminotransferase levels returned to normal in 22 (71%) patients. Fifteen (48%) of the 31 patients cleared HCV-RNA from their serum. Only four patients experienced a worsening of their psychiatric illness during treatment. Interferon therapy was discontinued in two of these patients. Conclusions Patients with a co-existent psychiatric illness and chronic HCV can be treated successfully with interferon-alpha with the active participation of a psychiatrist and the maintenance of psychotropic drug therapy during interferon treatment.