Psychotropic and Medical Drug Interactions

Abstract

In a number of situations, drugs used to treat psychiatric and physical illnesses are coadministered to patients suffering primarily from a psychiatric illness. Hence, coadministration of medical and psychiatric drugs is not uncommon. With increasing use of multiple drugs, our ability to treat a number of disorders has increased, but simultaneously, the problem of drug interactions has also assumed importance. A number of factors contribute to such drug interactions in psychiatric patients. All these interactions are both pharmacologically and genetically determined. Genetic susceptibility is not practical to determine. It is therefore essential for the physician to employ drug combinations only when necessary, be aware of the known clinically significant interactions, anticipate and watch for them, avoid dangerous combinations, and monitor the patients receiving combination of drugs with vigilance.