Patterns of use of psychotropic drugs in Spain in an international perspective

Abstract

The increase in the consumption of psychotherapeutic drugs, and particularly of sedatives and hypnotics, has led to increasing concern about the overprescribing and abuse of these drugs by the public. The study of drug consumption, and eventually the identification of particular areas of misuse, soon leads to a search for medical, social or cultural factors which can influence drug utilization. Drug utilization has been defined by the World Health Organization (1977) as ‘the marketing, distribution, prescription and use of drugs in a society, with special emphasis on the resulting medical, social and economic consequences’. Five questions arise when the utilization of sedatives and hypnotics is to be studied: (1) which are the characteristics of the milieu which may have some influence on the consumption of these drugs; (2) which are the characteristics of the supply of these drugs; (3) which are the most consumed drugs; (4) how are these drugs prescribed, dispensed and consumed; and (5) which (if any) are the effects of the consumption of these drugs.KeywordsPsychotropic DrugNordic CountryDrug ConsumptionDefine Daily DoseDrug UtilizationThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.