For over a decade Patrick McGorry has expirimented with or advocated the prescription of antipsychotics to adolescents on the hunch that they may later become psychotic. However, in response to last week’s blog a spokesperson for Professor McGorry told the West Australian he does “not recommend this (pre-psychosis drugging) as a standard treatment for clinical care because there are other treatments that are safer, like cognitive behavioural therapy and fish oil….there has been a substantial amount of research and we do change according to the research.” [1] (The full article can be read here: Mental health guru stumbles into public policy minefield.)
To the best of my knowledge this is the first time Professor McGorry has publicly declared that he has abandoned his support for the use of antipsychotics to prevent psychosis. His change of position is welcome. However, history tells it will not be enough to prevent a tide of pre-emptive drugging if Psychosis Risk Syndrome is included in DSMV, the next edition of the American Psychiatric Associations handbook of psychiatry.[2]
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