John Baker reports on Canadian study looking at prescriptions of off-label antidepressants in primary care, which concludes that when antidepressants were used outside of their licence, there was usually not strong evidence supporting the respective indication.
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Rory Sheehan and Angela Hassiotis discuss how to optimise psychotropic medication for people with intellectual disabilities; the theme of their #RSMpsychotropics conference taking place in London today.
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Angela Hassiotis and James Dove summarise a recent meta-analysis of antipsychotic prescribing and use trends in US youth with autism spectrum disorder and/or learning disabilities.
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Josephine Neale reports on a recent cohort study that finds less than half of UK prescriptions for antipsychotics are issued for main licensed conditions (e.g. psychosis or bipolar disorder). The research provides a reminder about the dangers of prescribing antipsychotics to people with dementia.
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Atypical (second-generation) antipsychotics are used to treat a variety of psychiatric conditions. Although they have fewer side effects than first-generation antipsychotics, weight gain and other metabolic problems (such as high blood pressure and diabetes) remain common side effects of taking atypical antipsychotic medication (Mind, 2012). The Mental Elf has previously blogged about a Canadian report [read the full story…]
