Behavioral toxicity of psychotropic drugs

The present review of psychomotor response to psychotropic substances is restricted to normal subjects and describes responses to the initial standard dose of psychotropic substances in common use. Only placebo-controlled studies which permitted statistical analysis of treatment group differences were considered for the summary. It was revealed that virtually all psychotropic substances have immediate detracting effects. The nature of the effects varied somewhat according to the class of drug. It is suggested that this kind of information has safety implications which could influence the choice of medication.     

Schizophrenia, psychotropic drugs and cognition

The robust and specific associations between cognitive abilities and the functional prognosis of patients suffering from schizophrenia lead to a major concern for cognitive impairment in this disorder. Among the strategies considered to correct or enhance cognition in schizophrenia, drugs hold a pivotal place. Evidently, antipsychotic drugs, which are inextricable from patients' management, have generated considerable scrutiny in this topic. This paper first aims to outline the current views on the impact of antipsychotic drugs in schizophrenia. The distinction between conventional and atypical drugs is reminded in order to more precisely review existing data comparing the impact of these two types of molecules on cognitive impairment. More specifically, an elementary framework is proposed to facilitate the recognition of methodological flaws and offer a critical examination of previous findings. It emerges subsequently that differences between atypical and conventional drugs appear far less contrasted than initially suggested. Also, atypical antipsychotics compose a disparate pharmacological class and much clarification could be obtained by differentiating the individual effects of these molecules rather than considering them as a group. Finally, the relevance of these cognitive measures is also considered. In particular, we address alternative measures closer to real life situations as well as the growing interest in the broad field of social cognition. A last part of this article deals with strategies relying on adjunctive therapies. The fairly modest results obtained with these approaches is evoked and briefly reviewed.     

Youth and psychotropic drugs in Belgium

The results of epidemiological studies show that in Belgium the use of psychotropic is high in the general population and in particular among young people. Systematically, one finds more users among girls than among boys, among young workers than among young school attenders, among young people whose parents are themselves users and in the regions of advanced urbanisation. These epidemiological data could be useful in orienting toward preventive actions to be undertaken.