[Use of psychotropic drugs in mentally handicapped adults]

Type and frequency of psychotropic drug treatment have been analysed in the case of 1154 institutionalized and non-institutionalized mentally retarded adults. The psychotropic drug prevalence amounts to 21.7%, only about one half of corresponding rates in other studies; possible causes of this result are discussed. Neuroleptics are prescribed most frequently by far, succeeded by anxiolytics. The psychotropic drug prevalence is significantly related to age, sex, and setting. A comparison of the psychotropic drug treatment of 1980 with that of 1986 above all shows a distinctly rarer prescription of anxiolytics and hypnotics as well as a decrease of polypharmacy in 1986.