Drug-centred psychopharmacology: a non-diagnostic framework for drug treatment.

Autor: Yeomans, David, Moncrieff, Joanna, Huws, Rhodri
Předmět:
Zdroj: BJPsych Advances; Jul2015, Vol. 21 Issue 4, p229-236, 8p
Abstrakt: We propose a 'drug-centred' framework for understanding the nature of drug treatment in psychiatry. In contrast to the prevailing 'diseasecentred' model, which suggests that drugs work by targeting underlying abnormalities, the drugcentred model maintains that drugs exert their effects through their psychoactive properties. According to this view, distinctive drug-induced alterations to normal cognition, emotion and behaviour can modify the manifestations of mental disorders independent of diagnosis or aetiological theory. The drug-centred approach already forms the basis of some current practice, particularly off-label prescribing. Within this framework, the matching of drug-induced effects to symptoms or difficulties, taking into account the unwanted aspects of the drug-induced state, becomes the focus of a collaborative endeavour between doctor and patient, consistent with the principles of the recovery model. More research into the full range of effects that psychiatric drugs produce is required to ground a judicious drug-centred practice and inform psychiatric training. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
Databáze: Complementary Index