Medications Curb Criminal Recidivism: Study Fewer violent reoffenses when psych meds given at prison release

http://www.medpagetoday.com/Psychiatry/GeneralPsychiatry/61183?xid=nl_mpt_DHE_2016-11-03&eun=g721819d0r&pos=0 Rates of violent reoffending were lower when prisoners were given psychotropic medications after leaving prison, Swedish researchers found. In a cohort study, prisoners provided with psychostimulants, antipsychotics, and medication for addictive disorders had hazard ratios of violent reoffending of 0.62 (95% CI 0.40-0.98), 0.58 (95% CI 0.39-0.88), and 0.48 (95% CI 0.23-0.97), respectively, compared with periods when they weren't given the drugs, Zheng Chang, PhD, of the Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm, and colleagues reported in the Journal of the American Medical Association. The researchers did not observe similar declines in violent reoffending among those given antidepressants or antiepileptic drugs when they were released (HR 1.09, 95% CI 0.83-1.43 and HR 1.14, 95% CI 0.79-1.65, respectively). The authors explained this by noting that patients with depression "are less violent than individuals with other mental illnesses; therefore, antidepressants may be less likely than other psychotropic medications to reduce violent reoffending."