People with schizophrenia are almost three times more likely to die from COVID-19 than those without the serious mental illness, making it second only to age as a risk factor for mortality.
Quetiapine is an antipsychotic drug to treat severe mental illness, but it makes people feel sleepy, so has also been used as a sleeping pill – by prescription and illicitly.
Because of their sedative effect, antipsychotic medications are often used – in fact they are over-used – to “manage” people with dementia. This is against clinical guidelines.
Quetiapine, sold under the brand name Seroquel, is a short-acting antipsychotic drug to treat major mental illnesses. It has also been increasingly prescribed off-label for insomnia.
People with intellectual disabilities and either behavioural disturbance, autism or dementia are significantly more likely to be prescribed anti-psychotic drugs.
How someone suffering from schizophrenia responds to treatment and manages their disorder is dependent on errors in their genes, according to new research.
According to a study of Vermont doctors, best practice guidelines for prescribing antipsychotic medication to children are followed only half the time.
News this week that as many as 100,000 prescriptions for anti-psychotics were written for Australian children in 2013 is cause for concern. Though the drugs may be appropriate in a small number of cases…