reports about their use in people with dementia.
http://www.library.nhs.uk/LATERLIFE/ViewResource.aspx?resID=331414
People with dementia aren't experiencing psychosis however it was found
to be convenient to use the chemical cosh on them. This lead to the
deaths of approximately 1800 people with dementia every year year in the
UK. That's higher than the homicide rate.
I think this is the study that prompted the report (link to the original
study at the bottom of the page but the NHS reporting is pretty good so
I've linked to it here).
http://www.nhs.uk/news/2009/01January/Pages/Dementiadrugdanger.aspx
In the study the very old people who were given antipsychotics lived
about 50% less long than those that didn't. They were very old which is
why the effect is magnified but it's still an awful thing.
People with severe mental illnesses (I was diagnosed with bipolar then
schizoaffective: bipolar type at the time) can spend their whole lives
on antipsychotics. There's also an increase in the use of antipsychotics
outside their primary role in 'treating' psychosis. What's I feel is
even worse is a growing trend in the US that may be happening in the UK
where children are being put on antipsychotics. The child's brain is
developing so strong neurochemicals really shouldn't be used and I feel
it would inhibit their psychological development if used at an early age.
It's startling to me that there's little research into the negative
effects of psychotropic drugs. Books by people like Peter Breggin have
identified some studies but there's clearly more to the damage that
antipsychotics can do. 50% of people dying in a study is reason enough
for the government to review the UK's dementia study and for the Royal
College of Psychiatry to publish a report where the 1,800 deaths a year
figure comes from. Doctors do know that antipsychotics will reduce life
expectancy but they rarely tell patients and they rarely study the
effect, perhaps because if the evidence showed the true risk to life
posed by prophylatic use of antipsychotics they'd not be able to use
them so frequently. Sadly modern medicine hasn't found an alternative to
the chemical cosh and it's forgotten a lot of what was learned before
the introduction of neuroleptic and other psychotropic medications. It's
as though by not researching the effects that contribute to mortality
and morbidity they don't have to consider an alternative to treatment
with antispychotics.
The medical profession is being forced into changing how it treats
dementia patients. There's an early blog post where I wrote about a
conversation with my sister who works in geratic care.
http://imaginendless.blogspot.com/2010/07/there-are-real-mental-illnesses.html
Recently the government have announced that GPs will be measured on how
few antupsychotics they prescribe to those with dementia. Perhaps one
day there will be the same measure for psychiatric illnesses which
antipsychotics are used to treat today. The measure won't happen without
the government or other intervention. The medical profession were happy
to continue to use antipsychotics until the research was done to see
just how many people were dying.
In the mean time many, many people on antipsychotics will die
prematurely. In the half century of their use the death toll is
inestimable. In a hundred years time people will look back at the start
of the 21st century with disgust at the pervasive use of antipsychotics
in their role as a chemical straitjaclet. Just because society won't
accept a little madness.
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