Family practice
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Information about psychotropic drug prescribing in one general practice was compared with overall information about such prescribing in Australia. Over the period 1978-81 there was a significant reduction in the number of prescriptions issued for psychotropic drugs. Prescriptions for hypnotics, sedatives and minor tranquilizers were more common than those for antidepressants or major tranquilizers. ⋯ Patients for whom psychotropic drugs were prescribed had a greater overall morbidity and used medical care services more than other patients. Only 9% of patients in 1981 were issued with a prescription for one of the four most commonly prescribed psychotropic drugs. A relatively small proportion of patients, most of them elderly women, received the largest proportion of the prescriptions.