Yes, long term use of psychiatric medication is harmful to health .Aleem M A. BMJ 2015;350:h2435

Head To Head

Maudsley Debate

Does long term use of psychiatric drugs cause more harm than good?

BMJ 2015; 350 doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmj.h2435 (Published 12 May 2015)


Cite this as: BMJ 2015;350:h2435

Rapid response



Re: Does long term use of psychiatric drugs cause more harm than good?

Yes, long term use of psychiatric medication is harmful to health

Definitely long term use of psychiatric drugs is harmful to male and female fetuses, neonates and infants. It may produce impact on alertness attention concentration and all day today activities in individuals who are using psychiatric medication with or without using alcohol or any other substance abuse. It also produces many neurological disorders with other organ and system involvement. So a definite guideline with period specific duration of treatment for major and minor psychiatric disorders should be adopted and followed universally to avoid long term adverse effects of psychiatric medication.

Competing interests: No competing interests

14 May 2015

M A Aleem

Neurologist

ABC Hospital

Annamalainagar Trichy 620018 Tamilnadu India