Suppression of Nursing Home Inmates

Neuroleptics are routinely used in every institution in which social control and behavioral suppression are a top priority and in which drugs can replace human services (see Breggin, 1983b, for details). Although Haldol and Mellaril have been largely displaced by newer drugs such 

Two decades ago, there was a growing awareness of the inappropriateness and harmfulness of prescribing neuroleptics to elderly patients ( Antipsychotic Drug Therapy, 1988 Gomez et al., 1990 Sherman, 1987). The use of neuroleptics for the behavioral control of the elderly produces toxicity even more readily than in younger patients, and it cannot substitute for needed human services. Sherman (1987) called into question the pharmaceutical company practice of placing advertisements for neuroleptics like Haldol and Navane in journals with a geriatric-practice orientation. 

In 1983, in Psychiatric Drugs Hazards to the Brain, I devoted considerable time to confirming the brain-disabling principle of neuroleptic treatment by pointing to its effects on a variety of diverse populations. I also discussed other confirmatory sources in the literature. The material in 

Neuroleptics have been commonly used in institutions for the de-velopmentally disabled to suppress the behavior of children and adults (Kuehnel et al., 1984 Plotkin et al., 1979). Kuehnel and Slama (1984) warned that neuroleptics can further compromise the learning abilities of the developmental disabled and cause the sedative snowed effect, which can reduce a client s positive response to learning cues (p. 94). 

Many critical books have decried the use of neuroleptics and other drugs in the suppression of children in hospitals and other settings (Armstrong, 1993 Hughes et al., 1979 Sharkey, 1994 Wooden, 1976). The control of children with neuroleptics will also be discussed in chapter 11 of this book. 

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