A retrospective study of 6,234 Medicaid recipients in Maryland by researchers at Johns Hopkins and published online June 2, 2012 by the journal Injury Prevention found that injury incidence was 80% higher and risk for fatal injury was more than four and a half times higher among those with serious mental illness compared to the general population.
Note from Kermit Cole, “In the News” editor:
Although the increased risk from drug and alcohol abuse was assessed as part of the study, the risk that psychiatric meds contributed was not.
Can we conclude that the diagnosis of *serious mental illness*, as was prerequisite to inclusion in this study, correlates with psychotropic drug protocols that have been established as *treatment guidelines*. In which case, we could expect an attitude of bias toward the significance of psychotropic drugs; that non compliance leads to substance abuse and increases risk of injury and drug/treatment compliance reflects just another aspect of the *disease* that warrants both drug treatment and injury prevention teaching.
How often do we find journal articles that report the dangers/risks associated with psychotropic drugs?
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