The killing of elderly patiens with anti psychotics

Well done SLUSK, I nearly thought you were going to start another thread asking for a blanket apology. See also:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/8490937.stm
Fish oil supplements 'beat psychotic mental illness'

sam34 wrote: »

:eek::eek::eek: medications have side-effects

but we already knew this

and side-effects are not exclusive to psychiatric drugs


paracetamol at a therapeutic dose can kill as well

Sam, though I am more than a little appalled to find myself (fleetingly) on the same side of a debate as slusk, I don't think what you have written above addresses the actual merits of the issues as raised by last year's Telegraph article and others that appeared like it in the popular press.

Effectively, your responses appear to be countering a different argument ("psychiatric drugs and psychiatry are all bad") than the one raised by the article ("some current psychiatric prescriptive practices may be inappropriate and the use of some psychiatric medications in certain circumstances may be placing some patients at excessive risk of adverse neurological sequelae and/or early death.)

Also, although Slusk's strident tone might provoke a reaction in anyone, I think it's a bit flippant to dismiss the substantive issue raised by using generalised, non-specific arguments that defend the use of psychiatric medication, thereby attempting to place the argument beyond the realm of reasoned discussion.

There is genuine, peer-reveiwed debate within and without psychiatry about the use of antipsychotics with elderly patients. ( See this article and this one and this one for a flavour of the complexities of the issues.

There is also some qualified support for the continued, albeit more nuanced use of antipsychotics in Alzheimers, something which deserves to be highlighted, particlarly for those relatives of patients who read and are distressed by negative reports in the media, or anti-psychiatry posts on forums such as this, and don't know how to differentiate the headline from the data.

There are costs and benefits to using antipsychotics with the elderly, not least the lack of viable alternative pharmacological approaches, but as this is a psychology forum, perhaps we should be looking at the issue in a broader sense. Antipsychotics are often used in Alzheimer's to manage disruptive behaviour. Using a well-designed functional analysis and careful implementation of behavioural management strategies in order to understand and intervene with challenging behaviour can be a very effective adjunctive, or indeed, alternative approach that can reduce the need for antipsychotics. This article and this one give some idea of how this can be done.

Ultimately, I think the issue deserves to be debated based on evidence and continuing developments in psychiatric and gerontology practice rather than on ideological grounds.


Edit:
Was looking for this article last night but only found it today - certainly the most rigorous review of non-pharmacological approaches in Azheimer's that I have come across. As usual, some promising findings but more research required....;)