Page 82 - JCTR-10-1

Journal of Clinical and Translational Research 2024; 10(1): 78-84

Journal of Clinical and Translational Research

Journal homepage: http://www.jctres.com/en/home

ORIGINAL ARTICLE

Indiscriminate use of psychotropic drugs by health discipline students at a

private university in Colatina

Sávio Baldotto Covre , Kayki Saib Abi-Habib Guerra , Isabella Rodrigues , Maria Luiza Vidigal Heleodoro ,
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Alessandra Mello Sant’Ana Armani , Fernanda Cristina de Abreu Quintela-Castro , Sarah Fernandes Teixeira *
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1 University Center of Espirito Santo, Espírito Santo, Colatina, Espírito Santo, Brazil, Graduate Program of Research and Extension (CEPEG),
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University Center of Espirito Santo, Colatina, Espírito Santo, Brazil
ARTICLE INFO ABSTRACT
Article history: Background: Psychotropic drugs are used to treat disorders involving central nervous system.
Received: July 31, 2023 However, several drugs are indiscriminately used by individuals seeking better academic or
Accepted: December 27, 2023 professional performance or for esthetic or recreational purposes. Indiscriminate utilization of
Published Online: February 6, 2024 psychotropic drugs is deleterious and can cause insomnia, anxiety, and emotional ability in short term,
as well as physical or psychological dependence, cardiovascular, cognitive, and motor alterations in
Keywords: long term, in addition to the risk of overdose.
Self-medication Aim: This study was designed to characterize the prevalence of indiscriminate use of psychotropic
Psychopharmaceuticals drugs among students in the health disciplines in Colatina, Espírito Santo, to decipher the factors
College students driving this practice. The findings from this study can lend themselves for designing preventive
Academics measures, in addition to providing a source of information about the harmful impacts of this habit.
Methods: A descriptive study on a sample of 122 college students from courses in the health
*Corresponding author: disciplines was carried out using online questionnaires. The data were tabulated in GraphPad Prism 9
Sarah Fernandes Teixeira software, with 95% reliability (P < 0.05), and analyzed using Fisher’s test.
University Center of Espirito Santo, Colatina, Results: Half of the college students interviewed claimed to have used psychotropic drugs at some
Espírito Santo, Brazil. points in their lives, and 21.3% had attempted self-medication. Utilization of psychotropic drugs
Email: sfteixeira@unesc.br became a common habit among students after entering academic life (62.3%).
Conclusions: Self-medication is a common practice among the interviewed students and academic
© 2024 Author(s). This is an Open-Access life, which has an significant impact on mental health, galvanizes this practice. These findings point
article distributed under the terms of the to the need for better attention to the mental health of the university students and more education
Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial regarding the practice of self-medication in the population as a whole.
License, permitting all non-commercial use, Relevance for Patients: The study highlights the need for greater attention by health professionals
distribution, and reproduction in any medium,
provided the original work is properly cited. to this practice of self-medication, and more primary preventive measures focused on educating these
users to prevent jeopardizing the health of individuals indiscriminately used psychopharmaceuticals
and to consequently reduce health system costs.

1. Introduction

According to the National Health Surveillance Agency (ANVISA), psychotropic
drugs are classified as “substances subject to special control” as they can cause physical
or psychological dependence, in addition to significant side effects. Therefore, its
commercialization requires retention of a controlled prescription (under inspection by
ANVISA, issued by an authorized prescriber) [1].
Self-medication, defined as the selection and use of drugs to treat self-recognized
symptoms including mental problems without consulting a physician, is recognized as a

DOI: https://doi.org/10.36922/jctr.00093