The British Journal of Psychiatry 150: 513-517 (1987)
© 1987 The Royal College of Psychiatrists
Anticonvulsant medication in a mental handicap hospital: 1972-1982
LC Sheppard, BR Ballinger and GW Fenton
Dundee Psychiatric Service, University of Dundee.
The prescription sheets for all patients in a mental handicap hospital on
one day in 1972 and on the same date in 1982 were examined to identify
trends in anticonvulsant medication over a 10-year period. There was a
reduction in size of the hospital population associated with fewer very
young and milder handicapped persons. Prescription of anticonvulsants fell
slightly during the decade under study with a dramatic fall in the use of
phenobarbitone, and a parallel increase in the prescription of
carbamazepine. Other changes included the use of sodium valproate in a
significant minority of patients and the occasional use of clonazepam in
1982, while phenytoin remained a first- rank anticonvulsant throughout the
period under review. The proportions of patients on polytherapy did not
change over the 10-year period, though the contribution of phenobarbitone
to the combined drug regimes was significantly reduced.
