Lic. En Psicología

Psychotropic drug use : its social and geographical context

http://cybergeo.revues.org/290

Cybergeo : European Journal of Geography
Dossiers
1996 Les Bonnes Feuilles du PIRVILLES

Psychotropic drug use : its social and geographical context
Le courrier du CNRS, n° 82, 1996, pp.114-116
PHILIPPE LE MOIGNE

Texte intégral
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A great many studies have been devoted to the use ofpsychotropic drugs - illegal narcotics or medically prescribed therapy - and the majority of them are inspired by the notion that drugs are a source of deliverance. This interpretation seems to be taken for granted, and from doctors who prescribe drugs as a therapy to help patients regain their mental balance all the way to mystic texts describing the "trip" as the pathway to a life of freedom andindependent self-discovery, everyone seems to think that these substances can free the individual from a false, distorted identity. Although psychotropic drugs do no such thing and on the contrary, only further imprison an individual in the illusion of having regained his autonomy, our perception remains influenced by this interpretation. When we use words like "dope" to denounce the enslavement of thepersonality to drugs, we are nonetheless referring to the idea of deliverance, even though what we mean to suggest may be quite the opposite.

The theme of resistance
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The notion of a "promised identity" is influenced both by psychology and by a rather simplistic brand of ecology. In the first case, the single reference point is the individual, and personality is analysed in terms of"deviance", much like the physicist studies elements whose trajectories are subject to abrupt changes. The drug user is seen as reacting passively to his own "atrophied personality": he appears sometimes as a victim and at other times as someone whose behaviour is asocial. In the second case, the strictly psychological factors are put aside and the environment is blamed. Since the

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Psychotropic drug use : its social and geographical context

http://cybergeo.revues.org/290

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social context can only be considered here as a vague and faceless group of individuals, the only identifiable factors, which can incidentally appear to be the main causes of disorders, are the disruption of the urban architectural fabric or the anxiety caused by automobile traffic- unless these are merely elements selected because of a compulsive need to collect stress factors. However, the findings of the present study point to a completely different interpretation and call for a revision of common notions concerning the use of psychotropic drugs. We have chosen to consider this issue from a new angle which emphasizes, in opposition to the idea of deliverance, the themeof resistance. Our research, carried out in the city of Rouen, is based on data obtained from prescriptions which include at least one psychotropic drug listed among the 40 most-often-prescribed drugs, for the year 1991 (this list includes five kinds of drugs: neuroleptics, tranquillizers, sedatives, sleeping pills, and antidepressants). This information was obtained through the Social Securityhealth care unit in Rouen and other Social Security organizations, in the form of requests for reimbursement sent in by the patients. Given the size of the task, we selected four days (one per quarter of year) yielding a total of 7,500 prescriptions.

The use of psychotropic drugs and the social context
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The study confirms most previous research findings concerning age andgender. About one in two patients is over 60 years of age. Seven out of ten patients are women. The number of prescriptions increases with the patient's age, reaching a high point at 65. In some areas, 100% of the users are women. However, once this data is set in context, a rather puzzling element appears. If age and sex, that is, the individual factors, had a generic and totally discriminatory...