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People diagnosed
with psychosis on too much medication
January
31, 2007
by Mike Jones
More
than a third of people diagnosed with psychosis are being given
excessive levels of antipsychotic medication.
This could be because medication is not being reduced following
a mental health crisis during which antipsychotic drugs are often
increased, a Healthcare Commission report stated.
The commission's report quoted an
audit by the Prescribing Observatory for Mental Health which found
36% of people were prescribed a high dose (more than 100% of the
maximum recommended daily dose) of antipsychotic medicines.
The commission, which monitors
healthcare services, made a number of recommendation to NHS trusts
on how to improve medication prescribing for people with mental
health problems.
Read for
yourself:
Healthcare
Commission's Talking About Medicines report (pdf)
See also:
Dec
18: More than 40 psychiatric inpatients per year die of "unexplained”
causes - antipsychotic drugs, physical restraint and heart disease
could be causing such deaths, states new report
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