Journal de Pharmacie Clinique
MENUIatrogenic agressive behaviour: involvement of psychotropic drugs Volume 22, issue 2, avril-mai-juin 2003
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- Key words: agitation, agressive behaviour, violence, psychotropic drug, iatrogenic disease
- Page(s) : 57-63
- Published in: 2003
Aggressive behavior is commonplace, especially for people presenting with mental illnesses. Various psychotropic drugs are used for the management of aggressiveness and agitation. The effectiveness of typical and atypical antipsychotics, benzodiazepines, antidepressant medications, and mood stabilizers has been proved. But paradoxical effects of these drugs have been reported. A naturalistic and retrospective survey was carried out over 8 months in the Saint‐Egrève Hospital, to study the prescriptions and medical files of patients with agitated, aggressive, or violent behavior. The prescriptions and diagnosis of all patients in the same institution were investigated in the same way on a given day. Comparison between the two samples showed that agitated patients: were younger; presented with more psychoses and organic mental disorders; were given more antipsychotic drugs, especially loxapine; received less antidepressant but more heterocyclic antidepressant drugs; were given more benzodiazepines. These results, compared with bibliography, raised questions on the use of loxapine, heterocyclic antidepressants, and benzodiazepines. A wide‐range prospective study is required to answer these.