title: [Prescription of psychopharmaceuticals in general practice. 2. Purpose, psychiatric diagnosis and treatment, addiction].
abstract: From a multicentre-questionnaire investigation in general practice, the prescription of psychotropic drugs to 3,756 patients is described as regards the object, psychiatric diagnosis and treatment and addiction. Twice as many women as men were prescribed psychotropic drugs but no sex differences of significance were present between the relative distributions of the various objects of prescription. 83-90% of the psychotropic drugs were prescribed as hypnotics or tranquilizers while 9-13% were prescribed for the treatment of psychoses. Two thirds of the psychotropic drugs were prescribed for patients who were considered mentally normal, including those suffering from environmental and psychosocial problems while only 1/3 of the patients had a real psychiatric diagnosis. Between 18 and 81% of the patients for whom psychotropic drugs were prescribed, depending upon the pharmacological group, did not have any real psychiatric illness. In over 50% of the patients, the psychotropic drugs prescribed was the only form of treatment, 17% had received interview treatment from the general practitioner and 17% had received treatment from a specialist in psychiatry or had been admitted to a psychiatric department. Approximately 20% of the patients for whom psychotropic drugs were prescribed were potential or genuine addicts.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Holm
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Olesen
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D003718:Denmark; D011307:Drug Prescriptions; D004363:Drug Utilization; D005194:Family Practice; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000188:drug therapy*; D008875:Middle Aged; D015337:Multicenter Studies as Topic; D011619:Psychotropic Drugs / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D012737:Sex Factors; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000150:complications*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
chemical_list: D011619:Psychotropic Drugs
vernacular_title: Psykofarmakaordination i almen praksis. 2. Formål, psykiatrisk diagnose og behandling samt misbrug.