A report from BBC News website below, on the extent of antopsychotic use in patients with dementia and additional deaths that result from the practice  – and NEW chance to take part in our first reader poll…
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Reader’s  Poll: Antipsychotics -Let’s call them by their real name…

• Isn’t it time we stopped calling them by the name designed by marketers to make them easy to sell “antipsychotics” and started calling them what they are “tranquillizers” or “neuroleptics” ?
• and isn’t it time we recognised that their main use is in suppressing behaviour in others that we might otherwise difficult to deal with?

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in UK …

• 180,000 dementia patients, nursing home residents prescribed “anti- psychotics”
• …leading to 1,800 additional deaths
• National strategy calls for significant reduction in prescription
•  A study, published on the BMJ [British Medical Journal] website, argued that antipsychotics should not be used “in the absence of clear need”.

Also includes video intervew with Michelle Fraser who tells how  two years of taking  antipsychotics had “horrendous” side effects on her father Michael Rainford

excerpt

Report on BBC News website [UK]

Antipsychotics death risk charted in dementia patients

By James Gallagher Health and science reporter, BBC News

Some antipsychotic medication may increase the risk of death in patients with dementia more than others, according to US research.

The drugs have a powerful sedative effect so are often used when dementia patients become aggressive or distressed.

A study, published on the BMJ website, argued that antipsychotics should not be used “in the absence of clear need”.

Experts said better alternatives were needed to antipsychotics.

A study in 2009, suggested 180,000 people with dementia were taking antipsychotic medication in the UK and said the drugs resulted in 1,800 additional deaths.

Antipsychotics death risk charted in dementia patients

Read full article on BBC News site

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-17138683

Related articles

• Antipsychotic Medication, Seniors, and Children (my.psychologytoday.com)
• Drugs Raise Death Risk in Dementia Patients (abcnews.go.com)
• Antipsychotics For Seniors With Dementia – Death Risk (medicalnewstoday.com)
• Dementia patient twice as likely to die from drugs, researchers warn (dailymail.co.uk)
• Certain Antipsychotics Up Risk of Death for Patients with Dementia (nlm.nih.gov)