A new study by Robert Rosenheck, MD, Professor of Psychiatry and of Health Policy, and Greg Rhee, PhD, MSW, Postdoctoral Fellow at Yale School of Medicine, estimates the national rates of psychotropic medication prescriptions for patients who do not receive a psychiatric diagnosis.
The paper, published in Health Services Research, found that no psychiatric diagnosis was recorded for 60 percent of visits at which a new psychotropic prescription was initiated between 2006 and 2015. The authors found that the rate increased from 59 percent in 2006-07 to 68 percent in 2008-09, then decreased to 52 percent in 2014-15.
They concluded that psychotropic medications are commonly initiated without a psychiatric diagnosis, especially by non-psychiatrist physicians.
Read the study by clicking here.