Doctors: Anti-psychotic meds overused for dementia, kids

[Locutus]

Anti-psychotic medications should not be the first treatments doctors or patients think of when dealing with dementia in an elderly person, behavior problems in a child or insomnia in an adult, a leading group of psychiatrists says in a new statement.


The American Psychiatric Association's (APA) new list of questionable uses of anti-psychotic medications is part of a broader campaign to educate patients and doctors about unneeded and possibly harmful medical treatments and tests. The campaign is called Choosing Wisely, and so far more than 50 medical groups have chimed in with lists of common practices that patients and doctors should question — everything from ordering too-frequent colonoscopies to using antibiotics for colds.


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Doctors: Anti-psychotic meds overused for dementia, kids

 

[karrie]

Anti-psychotic meds overused. Parenting and exercise severely underutilized.

 

[Sal]

Doctors who overprescribe the medications "are doing what they think might help," often without first trying safer or more effective alternatives, says Joel Yager, a psychiatry professor at the University of Colorado-Boulder, who helped develop the new list.

so my question would be...why? Why would a medical doctor believe this to be a first treatment...as lay people we know it should not be the first choice...why would there be people out there with Phd's who don't?

 

[SLM]

To be perfectly honest, most medical professionals that I've encountered have almost always gone for other options prior to medication. I know these kinds of doctors are out there, they must exist, but it's not been my experience.

And as a parent, anyone suggesting medication for my kid would be met with a healthy dose of skepticism and about a million questions, at minimum. I really thought that the days of just blindly accepting what your doctor said were in the past. I feel my generation and younger are all about asking questions and really trying to understand.

 

[Cliffy]

To be perfectly honest, most medical professionals that I've encountered have almost always gone for other options prior to medication. I know these kinds of doctors are out there, they must exist, but it's not been my experience.

And as a parent, anyone suggesting medication for my kid would be met with a healthy dose of skepticism and about a million questions, at minimum. I really thought that the days of just blindly accepting what your doctor said were in the past. I feel my generation and younger are all about asking questions and really trying to understand.

I think you grossly overestimate the intelligence of the average person. Just look at the average time spent in front of the idiot box, the types of programs that are popular and it will give you a clue.