PSYCHOTROPIC-DRUGS IN A HOSPITAL FOR INTELLECTUAL DISABILITY - THE STORY OF 18 YEARS

Psychotropic prescribing was surveyed over an 18-year period in an int ellectual disability hospital between 1972 and 1990. The number of inp atients fell from 605 to 242 but the proportion receiving psychotropic drugs rose from 33% to 47% with an increase in the percentage of the population receiving neuroleptics and lithium. Polypharmacy applied to 29% of the patients receiving psychotropic drugs in 1990. The changes in prescribing may be partly related to the increased proportion of i ndividuals with more severe psychiatric symptomatology in the populati on.