Off-label prescription of psychiatric drugs by non-psychiatrist physicians in three general hospitals in Germany.

Background: Off-label prescribing of psychoactive drugs is a common practice in psychiatry. Here, we sought to investigate the frequency of off-label prescribing in a population of hospitalized patients with a somatic illness who were also suffering from a psychiatric pathology.

Methods: Using a prospective, observational design, we collected data from 982 hospitalized patients with a somatic illness for whom a psychiatric consultation was requested because of the presence of additional psychiatric symptoms.