Doctors are putting an average of 20,000 additional Australians per year on antipsychotics, many of which are prescribed “inapprop­riately” for com­mon conditions, as experts warn of widespread costs to physical health from misuse and under-monitoring of the powerful drugs.

Prompting claims of a “plague” of unjustified prescribing, government figures released this week show that antipsychotics were dispensed to more than 433,000 Australians in 2013-14, a one-third increase on 2008-09.

The total number of anti­psychotic prescriptions — most of which are written by GPs — rose by 44 per cent in that period, from 2.5 million to 3.6 million, far outstripping the rate of growth in anti­depressants, as well as population growth.

Sydney University drug-use researcher Emily Karanges said the figures were “disturbing”.

“Antipsychotics are an import­ant and lifesaving treatment for some conditions, such as psychotic illness, but they are also powerful drugs with a lot of potent­ially serious side-effects,” Dr Karanges said.

“This idea that they are completely harmless and we can frequently use them in more mild conditions like anxiety and sleep is very concerning.”

For more details, go to: http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/health/anti-psychotic-drug-plague-running-unchecked/story-fn59nokw-1227465457211