Adverse Psychiatric Reactions to Modern Medication

Abstract

From this survey it will be apparent that many psychiatric reactions to drugs are largely caused by their direct toxic actions or from combinations of drugs. As such, they are often dose related, although age and slow speed of detoxification will increase the risk of patients developing delirium, hallucinations, sleep disturbances, anxiety etc. Similar toxic reactions can also occur when drugs to which a patient has developed some measure of tolerance are abruptly withdrawn. In this context the effects of drugs upon patterns of sleep may be important determinants of adverse withdrawal symptoms. In contrast are the reactions which resemble one or other of the functional psychoses. In these patients it appears that a past history of an affective or schizophrenic psychosis is the best predictor of a similar illness being precipitated by a particular drug. Nonetheless, with substances like reserpine and cycloserine there is good reason for thinking that, given a sufficient quantity, practically any patient can develop an adverse psychiatric reaction.

Iatrogenic Factors in Psychopathology

“…Whitlock [29], in a review published the following year, noted that the past history of an affective or psychotic episode was the best predictor of a similar illness being precipitated by a particular medical drug. An important characteristic of drug-induced affective disorders is the fact that they are unlikely to respond to antidepressant drugs [30].…”

A Consensus Statement for Safety Monitoring Guidelines of Treatments for Major Depressive Disorder

“…Depression and chronic pain are commonly comorbid and iterative, and it is possible that chronic opiate use has a noxious effect on mood [68,69]. Other potential mood modifying agents include some steroidal and other hormonal treatments [70,71], cardiovascular drugs, cholesterol lowering agents, parkinsonian agents, antibiotic agents [72], antineoplastic agents [73], anticonvulsants [74], typical antipsychotics and analgesics [75-78]. If there is a temporal association of the onset of depression and the commencement of a medication, then an assumption of causality is practicable.…”

Field evaluation of a mixture of albendazole sulphoxide and levamisole against Ostertagia and Trichostrongylus spp in sheep

“…For species differentiation of the eggs, 3 g of faeces from each sample were pooled for each group, mixed with vermiculite to give better aeration and incubated in a closed jar for 8 d at 21fl"C. Larvae were recovered by the method of Whitlock (1942), and up to 200 larvae were examined at x 40 magnification and differentiated into Ostertagia and Trichostrongy lus spp using the morphological criteria of Douvres (1957). A modified McMaster Slide Method (Anderson ef ul 1991) was used to obtain worm cgg counts from the samples.…”