Fundamental Concepts in Pharmacotherapy

Effective pharmacotherapy for seizure and behavior disorders is a fairly development. In the case of seizure disorders, it was not until the discovery of the antiepileptic properties of phenobarbital and Dilantin that truly safe and powerful treatments were available. The benzodiazepines are preferred over the propanediols for the treatment of anxiety because the latter are more apt to be fatal in suicide attempts and accidental poisonings. Subcutaneous injections are not used very often in the treatment of childhood medical disorders. Compared with children in regular classrooms, surveys show that neuroleptics are used more frequently to control behavior disorders in mentally retarded and emotionally disturbed children in special c programs. Drugs that are prescribed primarily for their effect on mood, thought processes, and behavior are collectively referred to as psychotropic drugs. The movement of drugs into, through, and out of the body can be described in terms of four processes: absorption, distribution, biotransformation and excretion.