Psych Central covers findings published in BMJ revealing that many people in the U.K. with intellectual disabilities are being prescribed antipsychotic drugs. The study’s lead author comments: “People who show problem behaviors, along with older people with intellectual disability or those with co-existing autism or dementia, are significantly more likely to be given an antipsychotic drug, despite this being against clinical guidelines and risking possible harm.”
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These drugs should be banned.
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As horrific as these drugs are, banning them is not the solution since cold turkeying people off of the meds would not be a good thing.
Anyway, I can’t imagine a more cruel thing than to give someone who is already suffering cognitive impairment, an antipsychotic. Of course, giving someone who isn’t cognitively impaired one isn’t very nice but this practice of pushing them on folks with intellectual disabilities greatly bothers me.
