This Research Topic is the second volume of Safety and Side Effects of Psychotropic Medications. Please see the first volume
here.
Despite considerable progress in pharmacotherapy over the past few decades, many severe mental disorders (i.e., schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, major depressive disorder, anxiety disorders, substance use disorders) remain insufficiently treated. This situation is due in part to limited knowledge of the pathophysiology of these disorders and the lack of biological markers, but also to a restricted number of mechanisms of action, and to a variety of ethical, tolerability, and safety considerations. Psychopharmacology remains essentially a symptom-based discipline. The timely, as well as effective and safe, treatment of mental disorders is a key focus in psychiatry, due to the early onset of these disorders and their severity, chronicity, and major effects on multiple biopsychosocial aspects of human life. High-quality evidence to guide the personalization of treatments and explore new treatment options that have greater, more specific efficacy and enhanced tolerability are needed.
The choice of psychotropic medication is based on diagnosis, dimensional investigation, illness symptoms and severity, international guidelines and evidence, prior treatment response, and tolerability, as well as balancing medication efficacy and tolerability profiles in the context of patient preferences and adherence with the goal to get the best effectiveness/compliance ratio. Clinical practice guidelines translate evidence into recommendations to improve patient care and outcomes. Therefore, the main goal of this Research Topic is to provide clinicians with up-to-date evidence to inform treatment recommendations and a framework for treatment decisions that will improve the quality of care and achieve better patient outcomes.
In this Research Topic, we welcome any type of article, including but not limited to, Original Research, Brief Research Reports, Systematic Reviews, Reviews, and Perspectives, addressing the following questions:
• What is the current state of the art of safety and side effects of the main psychotropic drugs?
• What strategies can be implemented to improve the safety and tolerability profiles of current psychopharmacological therapies?
• What are the recent accomplishments and new challenges in research on the safety and efficacy of psychotropics for children and young people?
• What is the relationship between the efficacy and safety profiles of the drugs currently used in the clinical management of the main psychiatric disorders?
• What role does shared decision-making play in current clinical practice to reduce side effects and improve adherence to treatment and the efficacy of pharmacological therapy?
• What are the future perspectives to be applied in psychopharmacology to improve the efficacy of pharmacological treatments by reducing the impact of adverse events in patients?
• What are the patterns and risks of psychotropic polypharmacy?
• What are the principles of psychedelic psychotherapy and how effective are these treatments for various types of mental health conditions?
• What are the advantages of smartphone app-based measurements for improving the efficacy and safety of psychotropic drugs?