Premium
Olanzapine as the ideal “trip terminator”? Analysis of online reports relating to antipsychotics' use and misuse following occurrence of novel psychoactive substance‐related psychotic symptoms
Author(s) -
Valeriani Giuseppe,
Corazza Ornella,
Bersani Francesco Saverio,
Melcore Claudia,
Metastasio Antonio,
Bersani Giuseppe,
Schifano Fabrizio
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
human psychopharmacology: clinical and experimental
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.461
H-Index - 78
eISSN - 1099-1077
pISSN - 0885-6222
DOI - 10.1002/hup.2431
Subject(s) - olanzapine , psychiatry , medicine , psychology , schizophrenia (object oriented programming)
Objective The pharmacological self‐management of novel psychoactive substance (NPS)‐induced psychopathological consequences represents a fast growing phenomenon. This is facilitated by the frequent sharing of NPS intake experiences online and by the ease of access to a range of psychotropic medications from both the online and street market. Olanzapine is anecdotally reported by Web users to be the most frequent self‐prescribed medication to cope with NPS‐induced psychoses. Hence, we aimed here at better assessing olanzapine use/misuse for this purpose. Methods Exploratory qualitative searches of 163 discussion fora/specialized websites have been carried out in four languages (English, German, Spanish, and Italian) in the time frame November 2012–2013. Results Most NPS‐users allegedly self administer with olanzapine to manage related psychotic crises/“bad trips”. This may be typically taken only for a few days, at a dosage range of 5–50 mg/day. Conclusions Only a few research studies have formally assessed the effectiveness of olanzapine and indeed of other second‐generation antipsychotics to treat NPS‐induced psychosis. Olanzapine was suggested here from a range of pro drug websites as being the “ideal” molecule to terminate “bad trips”. Health professionals should be informed about the risks related to olanzapine misuse. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.