ADHD is the one of the most prevalent childhood disorders and has been associated with impairments persisting into adulthood. Specifically, childhood ADHD is an independent clinical risk factor for the development of later substance use disorders (SUD). Moreover, adults who meet diagnostic criteria for ADHD have shown high rates of comorbid SUDs. Few studies, however, have reported on the relat...

Several psychoactive species have been used for centuries as a part of religious rituals or as medicines. These drugs are now being used recreationally by young people both because plants are considered safer than chemicals and because most of them are not illegal to use, possess, grow or distribute and cannot be detected by specific laboratory drug tests. Despite being ‘natural substances’ the...

OBJECTIVES Mental illness and psychotropic drugs have been linked with workplace injury, but few studies have measured exposures and outcomes independently or established their relative timings. To address this shortcoming, we conducted a case-control study nested within a database prospectively recording injury consultations, diagnoses and drug prescriptions. METHODS The Clinical Practice Re...

Of 230 adults admitted for self poisoning over two months, 153 (67%) had previously been taking a total of 309 prescribed drugs. Of these patients, 119 (78%) had been given psychotropic drugs (usually benzodiazepines), 81 (53%) obtained them on repeat prescription, and 47 (31%) had been prescribed multiple psychotropic drugs, often in seemingly illogical combinations. The use of these drugs inc...

The interaction between the cognitive component (the perception of nociceptive, or painful stimuli) and the affective component of pain is reflected in the overlap between the actions of anti-nociceptive agents (analgesics) and mood-altering drugs (psychotropics) when treating pain patients. Anxiety, depression, fear and sleeplessness may all respond to psychotropic drugs, and this may result i...

CONTEXT Psychotropic medications are widely prescribed, but how new classes of psychotropic medications have affected prescribing patterns has not been well documented. OBJECTIVE To examine changes between 1985 and 1994 (data from 1993 and 1994 were combined) in the prescribing patterns of psychotropic medications by office-based primary care physicians, psychiatrists, and other medical speci...