Historique
Article de Périodique
The psychoactive effects of psychiatric medication: The elephant in the room (2013)
Auteur(s) :
MONCRIEFF, J. ;
COHEN, D. ;
PORTER, S.
Année :
2013
Page(s) :
409-415
Sous-type de document :
Revue de la littérature / Literature review
Langue(s) :
Anglais
Domaine :
Autres substances / Other substances
Discipline :
PRO (Produits, mode d'action, méthode de dépistage / Substances, action mode, screening methods)
Thésaurus mots-clés
PSYCHOTROPES
;
MEDICAMENTS
;
ANTIDEPRESSEURS
;
SYMPTOME
;
DEPENDANCE
;
MECANISME D'ACTION
Résumé :
The psychoactive effects of psychiatric medications have been obscured by the presumption that these medications have disease-specific actions. Exploiting the parallels with the psychoactive effects and uses of recreational substances helps to highlight the psychoactive properties of psychiatric medications and their impact on people with psychiatric problems. We discuss how psychoactive effects produced by different drugs prescribed in psychiatric practice might modify various disturbing and distressing symptoms, and we also consider the costs of these psychoactive effects on the mental well-being of the user. We examine the issue of dependence, and the need for support for people wishing to withdraw from psychiatric medication. We consider how the reality of psychoactive effects undermines the idea that psychiatric drugs work by targeting underlying disease processes, since psychoactive effects can themselves directly modify mental and behavioral symptoms and thus affect the results of placebo-controlled trials. These effects and their impact also raise questions about the validity and importance of modern diagnosis systems. Extensive research is needed to clarify the range of acute and longer-term mental, behavioral, and physical effects induced by psychiatric drugs, both during and after consumption and withdrawal, to enable users and prescribers to exploit their psychoactive effects judiciously in a safe and more informed manner.
Affiliation :
Mental Health Science, University College London, London, UK
Cote :
Abonnement