Psychotropic drug

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

Psychotropic drugs intake in people aging with intellectual disability: Prevalence and predictors

Abstract: Abstract Background Psychotropic medication is frequently administered to people with intellectual disability with mental health and/or behavioural problems, instead of other non‐pharmacological interventions. This study describes the mental health and behavioural problems of people aging with intellectual disability, their psychotropic medication intake, and the factors contributing to a greater medication intake. Method The sample consisted of 991 people with intellectual disability over 45 years. Descriptive statistics and multinominal logistic regression were carried out. Results Antipsychotics were the most used psychotropic drug. Older people with mild intellectual disability living in institutions and affected by mental health and behavioural problems were more likely to take larger amounts of psychotropic medication. Conclusions Antipsychotics continue to be widely used by people with intellectual disability and mental and behavioural health problems, especially those in institutionalised settings. Future research should consider if medication intake could be reduced providing better supports in the community and non‐pharmacological interventions.

Clinical significance of neuroleptic plasma level monitoring

Abstract: Every time the clinical significance of neuroleptic plasma level monitoring is discussed in congresses or seminars, two opposite opinions are encountered. On the one side, there are physicians and scientists who think that neuroleptic plasma level monitoring is only an interesting, but expensive, intellectual exercise which has very little to do with the treatment or the management of the psychotic patient; on the other side, there are physicians and scientists who believe that neuroleptic plasma level monitoring may be a useful tool for a more rational and safer therapeutic approach to psychiatry. Such a situation has apparently crystallized for at least six years, with no real dialogue between the two parties and a growing scepticism towards the possible value of therapeutic drug monitoring in psychiatry, as documented by a recent editorial (Editorial, 1979). This fact is highly regrettable because the field of neuroleptics appears as the only one which has not yet taken advantage of the increased knowledge on drug utilization and prescription brought about by the development of clinical pharmacology.