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Article: Primer for prescription medicines: the medicines for side effects--part one.(RX Primer)
- Article from:
- Annals of the American Psychotherapy Association
- Article date:
- September 22, 2004
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2004 American Psychotherapy Association. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Psychotropic medicines--like all medicines--can potentially produce side effects. Most side effects are mild, but some can be serious, even life threatening. Most physicians define medication side effects as undesirable experiences or conditions produced by a medicine. An example might be drowsiness, caused by an antidepressant, in a patient who is already sleeping too much. The same effect in someone who is sleeping too little may not be called a side effect by this definition, especially if the drowsiness is at bedtime (although some would say this is still a side effect, but a "desirable" one). Some side effects manifest at a physiological distance from the target organ ...