Factors involved in making decisions to prescribe medications for psychiatric disorders by psychiatrists: a survey study.

The objective of this study is to understand psychiatrist's decisions to prescribe psychiatric medications. A survey questionnaire was prepared consisting of 15 factors. Each factor had a five-point Likert scale, rating the importance of each factor in making decisions to prescribe medications.

Differing effects of antipsychotic medications on substance abuse treatment patients with co-occurring psychotic and substance abuse disorders.

This retrospective study of patients treated in a ninety-day, inpatient, dual-diagnosis treatment program examined antipsychotic effectiveness in this population using length of stay in treatment and successful program completion as outcome measures. All patients with co-occurring substance dependence and schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder treated with olanzapine, risperidone, ziprasidone, and typical depot neuroleptics from January 2001 to December 2003 (N = 55) are the subjects of this study. Patients stayed longer in treatment when taking risperidone (82 +/- 19 days) or ziprasidone (74 +/- 21 days) compared with olanzapine (44 +/- 30 days) or typicals (47 +/- 36 days).