A growing number of teenagers and young adults are overdosing on mind-altering drugs intended to treat mental disorders. In the United States, these incidents reportedly occur shortly after patients obtain a prescription from their doctor.
- In 2017, more than one in five young French people aged 17 said they had used a psychotropic drug in their lifetime, girls much more often than boys (30% against 14%).
- The most prescribed anxiolytics, especially for long periods, belong to the benzodiazepine family, which very quickly lead to physical dependence.
Anxiolytics, hypnotics, antidepressants, neuroleptics… These treatments, which act on brain activity, are prescribed for people suffering from anxiety, sleep disorders, depression or mood disorders. Taking these psychotropic drugs can give rise to problematic or risky uses. And for good reason, the number of young Americans who have overdosed on benzodiazepines, namely tranquilizers, has increased in recent years, according to work published in the journal Pediatrics March 2. This research also revealed that teenagers and young adults had taken an excessive dose of these treatments after receiving a prescription from their doctor, which is concerning.
In the United States, 4,777 young people died of an overdose in 2019
To reach these conclusions, scientists from New Jersey (USA) examined the frequency with which young people who overdosed on psychotropic drugs had a recent prescription for these drugs. They analyzed data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The latter indicated that 4,777 young Americans died of an overdose in 2019. A total of 727 people died from an excessive dose of benzodiazepines and 902 from overdoses of psychostimulants. The researchers then used the prescription records to determine if these young people had been prescribed these drugs in the months before their overdose.
A link between overdoses and the prescription of psychotropic drugs
“Among people aged 18 to 25, 5.8% report having misused psychostimulants prescribed by their doctor and 3.8% misused prescription benzodiazepines in the past year,” can we read in the study. According to the results, 29% of young overdose deaths involving benzodiazepines had a prescription issued by a doctor one month before and 42% within the previous six months.
“These results underscore the need for physicians to assess the risk of self-harm in young people for whom they prescribe psychotropic drugs, as well as the need to deploy various means to prevent intentional and unintentional overdoses,” said Mr. Bushnell, author of the work, in a statement.
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