POLYPHARMACY IN PSYCHIATRY - BALANCING CAUTION WITH DARING

Although it is wise to be cautious when administering more than one drug to a patient, polypharmacy is not a controversial practice. Rather, it is a useful and an accepted method of treating complicated cases in all medical specialities. There is a need for more rigorous study of multiple-medication therapies. However, physicians must be able to make decisions based on the data that are available and not be limited in their ability to treat a patient by a lack of scientific validation for every aspect of the treatment.