Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-gb8f7 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-26T14:51:12.650Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Neuroleptic drug use in psychiatric intensive therapy units: problems with complying with the consensus statement

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

Jonathan Hillam  and
Chris Evans
Jonathan Hillam*
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, Royal Free Hospital Pond Street, London NW3 2QG
Chris Evans
Affiliation:
Department of Mental Health Sciences, St George's Hospital Medical School Cranmer Terrace, London SW17 0QT
*
∗Correspondence
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

The pharmacological management of acute behavioural disturbance in psychosis is not straightforward. The real, or perceived, dose:effect relationship of the various neuroleptics in common use has an important influence on prescribing patterns leading, in certain situations, to very high doses of neuroleptic medication being prescribed. Data from a study of the use of neuroleptic medication in two psychiatric intensive therapy units illustrate the potential extent of the problem. Over half of the cases were not amenable to accurate dosage monitoring due to the use of depot neuroleptics, Clopixol Acuphase or polypharmacy. The majority received doses exceeding the limit suggested by the British National Formulary. Efforts to standardise the use of such drugs would help to optimise the clinical management of this challenging group of patients.

Type
Original Papers
Information
Psychiatric Bulletin , Volume 20 , Issue 2 , February 1996 , pp. 82 - 84
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BY
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1996

References

British Medical Association & Royal Pharmaceutical Association (1993) British National Formulary, Number 26 (September 1993). Bath: Bath Press.Google Scholar
Carvill, S. (1994) Neuroleptic usage [letter]. Psychiatric Bulletin, 18, 304.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cunnane, J. G. (1994) Drug management of disturbed behaviour by psychiatrists. Psychiatric Bulletin, 18, 138–139.Google Scholar
Foster, P. (1989) Neuroleptic equivalence. The Pharmaceutical Journal, 30 September, 431–432.Google Scholar
Hirsch, S. R. & Barnes, T. R. E. (1994) Clinical use of high dose neuroleptics. British Journal of Psychiatry, 184, 94–96.Google Scholar
Kane, J. N. (1994) The use of higher dose antipsychotic medication. British Journal of Psychiatry, 184, 431–432.Google Scholar
Mullen, R., Caan, A. W. & Smith, S. (1994) Perception of equivalent doses of neuroleptic drugs. Psychiatric Bulletin, 18, 335–337.Google Scholar
Richards, H. & Wilkinson, E. (1994) Prescribing drugs in emergencies (letter). Psychiatric Bulletin, 18, 431–432.Google Scholar
Richelson, E. (1984) Neuroleptic affinities for human brain receptors and their use in predicting adverse effects. Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, 45, 331–336.Google Scholar
Rifkin, A., Doddi, S., Karajgi, B., et al (1994) Dosage of haloperidol for mania. British Journal of Psychiatry, 185, 113–116.Google Scholar
Rowlands, P. & MacNeill, A. L. (1990) How much of which antipsychotic? Lancet, 338, 443.Google Scholar
Royal College of Psychiatrists (1993) Consensus Statement on the Use of High Dose Antipsychotic Medication. Council Report, CR26. London: RCPsych.Google Scholar
Tardiff, K. (1992) The current state of psychiatry in the treatment of violent patients. Archives of General Psychiatry, 49, 493–499.Google Scholar
Thompson, C. (1994) The use of high dose antipsychotic medication. British Journal of Psychiatry, 164, 448–458.Google Scholar
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.