Gill D, Almutairi S and Donyai P. ‘The lesser of two evils’ vs ‘medicines not Smarties’: constructing antipsychotics in dementia. The Gerontologist. 2017 (In Press) ISSN Print ISSN 0016-9013. doi:10.1093/geront/gnx178

Dr Parastou Donyai, Associate Professor of Social and Cognitive Pharmacy at the University of Reading who led the research said:

“What we saw was that using ‘the lesser of two evils’ argument to justify the overprescribing of antipsychotics comes with assumptions about what is best for patients and carers, often without a good understanding of what risks are associated with using the medication or alternative ways to manage behaviour. Dementia is one of the most prevalent diseases affecting the world with more than 45 million people experiencing it in some form or another, so it’s really important that we understand the best ways of caring for our loved ones and stop the uncritical over-prescription of drugs that may not be suitable for patients.”

“What we see is that people providing dementia care can built up a way to rationalise the over-prescription of antipsychotics while protecting themselves when discussing the issue. We do know that similar attitudes are adopted with other medication, and we need to look further at how to correct the unquestioned assumptions that lie behind what was expressed in interviews.”