Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-r5fsc Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-25T20:01:24.294Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

General Practice Patients on Long-Term Psychotropic Drugs

A Controlled Investigation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

J. Catalan ,
D. H. Gath ,
A. Bond ,
G. Edmonds ,
P. Martin  and
J. Ennis
J. Catalan*
Affiliation:
Oxford University Department of Psychiatry
D. H. Gath
Affiliation:
Oxford University Department of Psychiatry
A. Bond
Affiliation:
Oxford University Department of Psychiatry
G. Edmonds
Affiliation:
Oxford University Department of Psychiatry
P. Martin
Affiliation:
Oxford University Department of Psychiatry
J. Ennis
Affiliation:
Oxford Regional Health Authority
*
∗Elms Clinic, Oxford Road, Banbury, Oxon OX16 9AL
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

In a health centre, 3.6% of the registered patients were found to have received at least one prescription for psychotropic drugs in each quarter of a year. These patients were mainly elderly and female. Psychiatric interviews were held with randomly selected index patients, and with matched controls. Most index patients reported taking psychotropic drugs for several years, mainly anxiolytics, antidepressants and non-barbiturate hypnotics, and mainly in low dosage. Index patients had much higher levels of psychiatric morbidity, as shown by the Present State Examination, history of specialist psychiatric treatment, and previous drug overdoses. In index patients the main diagnoses were neurotic depression and phobic disorder. Index patients reported more problems with finances and with social isolation.

Type
Annotation
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 152 , Issue 3 , March 1988 , pp. 399 - 405
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1988 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Catalan, J., Gath, D., Edmonds, G. & Ennis, J. (1984a) The effects of non-prescribing of anxiolytics in general practice: I. Controlled evaluation of psychiatric and social outcome. British Journal of Psychiatry, 144, 593–602.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Catalan, J., Gath, D., Bond, A. & Martin, P. (1984b) The effects of non-prescribing of anxiolytics in general practice: II. Factors associated with outcome. British Journal of Psychiatry, 144, 603–610.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Catalan, J. & Gath, D. (1985) Benzodiazepines in general practice: time for a decision. British Medical Journal, 290, 1374–1376.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Eysenck, H. J. & Eysenck, S. B. G. (1964) The Manual of the Eysenck Personality Inventory. London: University of London Press.Google Scholar
Gath, D. & Catalan, J. (1986) The treatment of emotional disorders in general practice: psychological methods versus medication. Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 30, 381–386.Google Scholar
Hendler, N., Cimini, C., Terence, M. A. & Long, D. (1980) A comparison of cognitive impairment due to benzodiazepines and narcotics. American Journal of Psychiatry, 137, 828–830.Google ScholarPubMed
Johnson, D. (1973) Treatment of depression in general practice. British Medical Journal, ii, 18–20.Google Scholar
Johnson, D. (1974) A study of the use of antidepressant medication in general practice. British Journal of Psychiatry, 125, 186–192.Google Scholar
Lacy, R. & Woodward, S. (1985) That's Life! Survey on Tranquillisers. London: BBC Publications.Google Scholar
Mellinger, G., Balter, M., Manheimer, D., Cisin, I. & Parry, H. (1978) Psychic distress, life crisis and use of psychotherapeutic medications. Archives of General Psychiatry, 35, 1045–1052.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Mellinger, G., Balter, M., & Uhlenhuth, E. (1984) Prevalence and correlates of the long-term regular use of anxiolytics. Journal of the American Medical Association, 251, 375–379.Google Scholar
Robson, M., France, R. & Bland, M. (1984) Clinical psychologists in primary care: controlled clinical and economic evaluation. British Medical Journal, 288, 1805–1808.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Seppala, T., Korthila, K., Hakkinen, S. & Linnoila, M. (1976) Residual effects and skills related to driving after a single oral administration of diazepam, medazepam or lorazepam. British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology, 3, 831–841.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Shepherd, M., Cooper, B., Brown, A. C. & Kalton, G. (1981) Psychiatric Illness in General Practice, 2nd edn. London: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Skegg, D., Doll, R. & Perry, J. (1977) Use of medicines in general practice. British Medical Journal, i, 1561–1563.Google Scholar
Tyrer, P. J. (1978) Drug treatment of psychiatric patients in general practice. British Medical Journal, ii, 1008–1010.Google Scholar
Tyrer, P. J. (1980) Dependence on benzodiazepines. British Journal of Psychiatry, 137, 576–577.Google Scholar
Tyrer, P. J. (1984) Benzodiazepines on trial. British Medical Journal, 288, 1101–1102.Google Scholar
Williams, P., Murray, J. & Clare, A. (1982) A longitudinal study of psychotropic drug prescription. Psychological Medicine, 12, 201–206.Google Scholar
Wing, J. K., Cooper, J. E. & Sartorius, N. (1974) The Measurement and Classification of Psychiatric Symptoms. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Woodcock, J. (1970) Long-term consumers of psychotropic drugs. In Treatment or Diagnosis (Balint, M., Hunt, J., Joyce, D., Marinker, M. & Woodcock, J.). London: Tavistock Publications.Google Scholar
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.