Psychotropic drug therapy

David Taylor is Chief Pharmacist at the South London and Maudsley NHS Trust. Honorary Senior Lecturer at the Institute of Psychiatry and Foundation President of the College of Mental Health Pharmacists. His main areas of research are pharmacokinetics and prescribing practice in mental health. His team at the Maudsley is widely involved in systemic reviews and meta-analyses of psychotropic drug therapy. David is lead author of the Maudsley 2001 Prescribing Guidelines (Martin Dunitz, 2001) and co-editor of Case Studies in Psychopharmacology (Martin Dunitz, 1998). 

Reilly JG, Ayis SA, Perrier IN, et al. QTc-interval abnormalities and psychotropic drug therapy in psychiatric patirents. Lancet 2000 355 1048-52. 

The book concludes with Chapter 13 and Chapter 14 on disorders that require separate consideration. The first group includes Panic, Obsessive-Compulsive, Post-Traumatic Stress, Somatoform, and Dissociative disorders. Although traditionally these are classified as anxiety disorders, their symptoms and varied treatment responsivity require a separate series of discussions. Finally, certain groups of patients are considered in light of their specialized needs when contemplating psychotropic drug therapy. They include the pregnant patient, children and adolescents, the elderly, the personality disordered, as well as patients whose conditions are complicated by medical problems (e.g., the alcoholic patient the HIV-infected patient). 

Treatment of drug intoxication, summarized in Table 64—7, is primarily supportive. Vital functions are maintained while waiting for the drug to be eliminated. When absolutely necessary, physical restraint may be required temporarily while a diagnostic evaluation is initiated to rule out other causes for the behavior (e.g., metabolic or fluid and electrolyte disturbances). Whenever possible, drug therapy should be avoided because psychotropic drug therapy has the potential... 

Thornton C, Maher TM, Hansell D, Nicholson AG, Wells AU. Pulmonary fibrosis associated with psychotropic drug therapy a case report. J Med Case Reports 2009 3 126. 

Dusetzina SB, Weinberger M, Gaynes BN, Farley JF, Sleath B, Hansen RA. Prevalence of bipolar disorder diagnoses and psychotropic drug therapy among privately insured children and adolescents. Pharmacotherapy 2012 32(12) 1085-94. 

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