Reducing psychotropic pharmacotherapy in patients with severe mental illness: a cluster-randomized controlled intervention study.

Background: Many patients with mental illness receive psychotropic medicine in high dosages and from more than one drug. One of the consequences of this practice is obesity, which is a contributing factor to increased physical morbidity and premature death.

Methods: Our study was a cluster-randomized intervention study involving 6 facilities and 174 patients diagnosed with severe mental illnesses (73% schizophrenia).