ABSTRACT
Psychiatrists most often prescribed psychotropic drugs alone, whereas the other physicians in about half the cases prescribed psychotropic drugs in combination with other drugs. Comparison of prescription habits of psychiatrists and other physicians can give further insight into the medical treatment of mental disorders and indicate how prescriptions for psychotropic drugs and their use could be reduced and kept within the limits necessary for effective usage. Although the average prescribed daily dose is lower than the defined daily dose the too high estimate of the prevalence derived from the number of defined daily doses (DDD) is explained by the number of psychotropic drugs per prescription and by the fact that a number of patients get repeated prescriptions during the month. The distribution of the amount of drugs measured by the number of DDDs prescribed gave similar results.
