TOWARD A THEORY OF SOCIAL PHARMACOLOGY - THE ACTOR-SPECTATOR PARADOX APPLIED TO THE PSYCHOTROPIC PRESCRIBING PROCESS

Traditionally, drug prescribing was regarded as part of the physician' s decision-making role. However, recently it has been recognized that such a perspective is insufficient to understand the psychotropic pres cribing process, To understand this process, a drug communication pers pective is necessary. This article describes the actor-spectator parad ox and its influence on drug communication and psychotropic drug presc ribing. The actor-spectator paradox postulates that the actor and the spectator have divergent perspectives about the cause of the actor's b ehavior. The spectator makes assumptions about the actor's cognitive s ystem other than the actor herself is making. This difference is often the basis for misunderstandings between a health professional and a p atient. If a health professional can learn to make more realistic assu mptions about a patient's cognitive system, communication between the two will improve. In the same way a patient has to learn to make more realistic assumptions about the cognitive systems of health profession als. The actor-spectator paradox can be applied to different areas of Social Pharmacology such as the diagnosis of patients suffering from m ental health problems, drug compliance, informed consent, and the pres cribing of psychotropics.