Psychiatrists' Characteristics and Polypharmacy

A questionnaire which included a case history designed to elicit treatment preferences in psychiatric disease was distributed to psychiatrists on the staffs of seventeen state mental hospitals in New York State. Results of the survey, based upon a 45 per cent return, indicate that two of every five respondents selected polypharmacy as the preferred initial treatment regimen for the hypothetical patient described in the questionnaire. Recency of training (residency completion) and fewer private agency affiliations appeared to be the major characteristic of the psychiatrists in this sample, who tended to employ drug combinations. These data are interpreted as being consistent with the hypothesis that polypharmacy may currently be ‘in vogue’ as a therapeutic modality despite the lack of a clear cut rationale for its use or proof of its efficacy.