Antipsychotics and the Mentally Disabled
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.
- The US Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1776
When I was in college I spent my summers working with mentally and physically disabled adults in group homes and camps. Many of the patients had IQs<75, which presented a unique communication challenge. Emotional outbursts were not uncommon as the adults used the only form of communication that seemed to draw attention to an immediate need. I spent a lot of my time trying to predict needs before frustrations bloomed, and after getting to know the peculiarities of each individual, I could generally keep the group in a fairly content state.
Most of the adults were on a long list of medications – some were for epilepsy, others were for heart defects, but many were antipsychotics and sedatives. At the time I didn’t realize exactly what each medicine was for, and wondered why these relatively young men and women needed so many pills.
In retrospect I believe that many of the medicines were a misguided attempt to control behavior. It’s analogous to giving someone, with their hand in a bucket of very hot water, a pain medicine instead of removing their hand from the bucket. And now new research in the Lancet suggests that antipsychotic medications (such as haldol or risperdal) do little or nothing to control aggressive behavior in the mentally disabled (though not psychotic) population.
So why have we been giving mentally disabled individuals antipsychotics for decades? Sadly, we thought that these pills would provide a quick and easy way to conform their behavior to our sensibilities, without having to get to know the reasons for their frustrations. And of course, these people weren’t intellectually sophisticated enough to question the utility of this approach or to decline the use of such medications.
I find it terribly sad that it has taken us this long to realize that giving anti-psychotics to mentally impaired people is not in their best interest. Surely more evidence would have been gathered prior to subjecting “normal” adults to such treatments. In this imperfect world, it does seem that those without a voice are less often heard. It is our responsibility as healthcare professionals to look after their interests and not take the easy way out. Mentally disabled individuals have the right to express themselves, and to be free of unproven and unnecessary drug treatments. Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Our own Declaration of Independence argues as much.This post originally appeared on Dr. Val’s blog at RevolutionHealth.com.
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