Deliberate self-poisoning: implications for pyschotropic drug prescribing in general practice

Several surveys have confirmed that the majority of patients who take an overdose of drugs have seen their general practitioner within the preceding few weeks; as many as a third attend within the previous week.

We studied 130 patients who had taken an overdose and interviewed 122 of the general practitioners. We found that they had identified many interpersonal problems and had usually prescribed psychotropic drugs.

We question the wisdom of this response and suggest other ways of handling such problems in general practice.