Posted by med_empowered on November 25, 2005, at 2:41:40
In reply to Re: Post for sub abuse, maybe more suited here. sorry! » Phillipa, posted by Phillipa on November 24, 2005, at 23:39:18
I remember reading a case study while doing a report about a woman dying from NMS during the '70s...I think she was being treated with Thorazine during withdrawal from Quaaludes. William S. Burroughs, the beat-poet, talked about Thorazine treatment during one of his many attempts at going clean from heroin and stimulant abuse; that would probably mean 50s-early 70s. When the neuroleptics were still big and considered "miracle drugs," they were being used for everything...much like the atypical antipsychotics are being sprayed around for everything today. It wasn't until the mid-to-late 70s that this practice stopped; at that point, there were complaints about over-prescription, mis-prescribing (ex: giving it to the elderly for "senile agitation," or to children for "conduct disorder") and there were increasing concerns about EPS and tardive dyskinesia. Perhaps more importantly, the 70s and 80s saw a lot of malpractice litigation based on the (mis)use of neuroleptics, so shrinks had to prescribe other stuff to avoid losing licensure or paying hefty settlements.
poster:med_empowered
thread:581953
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20051119/msgs/582023.html