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Role of Psychotropic Medications in Older Adults

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Mental Health, Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities and the Ageing Process

Abstract

Older adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) are at high risk of adverse events relating to inappropriate or poorly managed psychotropic medication use. Nevertheless, when used judiciously as part of a multimodal approach to treatment, psychotropic medications can offer substantial therapeutic benefit for some elders with IDD. This chapter describes the complexities of psychotropic medication use in older people with IDD and outlines how basic principles for prescribing can inform good practice in the face of these complexities. It draws clinicians’ attention to the growing calls to redress the overuse of antipsychotics for challenging behaviours in adults with IDD. Finally, the chapter touches on issues surrounding complementary and alternative medicines with psychotropic properties, and the recent increase in the use of cannabinoids as therapeutic agents.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Developmental Disability Neuropsychiatry, UNSW Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia

    Elizabeth Jane Evans & Julian Norman Trollor

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  1. Elizabeth Jane Evans
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  2. Julian Norman Trollor
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Correspondence to Julian Norman Trollor .

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  1. Birmingham Community NHS Trust, Birmingham, UK

    Vee P. Prasher

  2. Emeritus of Pediatrics, Environmental Medicine and Psychiatry, University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry, Hilton Head, SC, USA

    Philip W. Davidson

  3. UCD Centre for Disability Studies, School of Psychology, University College Dublin, Belfield, Ireland

    Flavia H. Santos

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Evans, E.J., Trollor, J.N. (2021). Role of Psychotropic Medications in Older Adults. In: Prasher, V.P., Davidson, P.W., Santos, F.H. (eds) Mental Health, Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities and the Ageing Process. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-56934-1_12

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