Neupsy Key

Antidepressant drugs Case history 6 Nilanjan is a 52-year-old year old man who presents with a moderate to severe depressive episode. He is despondent and hopeless, with fatigue, poor motivation…

Psychological treatments Psychological treatments may be used alone or in combination with physical treatments. They provide some of the most powerful means of treating many types of mental illness. The…

Benzodiazepines and drugs for dementia Benzodiazepines The benzodiazepines are known as ‘minor tranquillisers’. During the 1960s and 1970s they were enormously popular, but as the risk of dependence has been…

Mental health services II Case history 2 Jess has been treated in an inpatient unit under section 3 of the Mental Health Act. She was admitted with an acute manic…

Mood stabilisers and ECT Mood stabilisers The discovery that lithium reduces the risk of both manic and depressive relapse in bipolar affective disorder has resulted in it being viewed as…

Prescribing psychotropic drugs When to prescribe A thorough assessment of the patient is required before a psychotropic drug can be prescribed. For the more severe mental illnesses, drugs are the…

Introduction to drug treatments The drugs used to treat mental illnesses are known as ‘psychotropics’. Psychotropic drugs exert their effects on neurotransmitter systems within the central nervous system (CNS). This…

Mental health services I Case history 1 John is a 23-year-old unemployed, single man who lives with his parents. He has chronic schizophrenia. When he is acutely unwell he becomes…

Classification in psychiatry Case history 3 From the age of 18 years, Emily has always manipulated situations so that other people sort things out for her. If they refuse to…