A report published in this month’s Journal of the American Geriatrics Society found that adults over 65 are receiving psychotropic medications at twice the rate of younger adults. The study also found that elders are much less likely to get their mental health care from psychiatrists or to receive psychotherapy. The report notes that psychotropic drugs generally pose greater risks to the elderly than they do to younger patients, and non-drug approaches, from therapy to meditation, may be as effective as psychotropic medications for some seniors’ mental disorders, without the risks. Psychotropic drugs pose both direct and indirect risks to the elderly: the drugs themselves can be dangerous. The American Geriatrics Society lists psychotropic medications that are potentially inappropriate for elderly patients.
