Assessment of impact of pharmacophilia and pharmacophobia on medication adherence in patients with psychiatric disorders: A cross-sectional study

AIMS: To investigate the impact of pharmacophilia and pharmacophobia on medication adherence among patients with psychiatric disorders. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A cross-sectional, observational study was conducted in the Department of Psychiatry over a period of 2 months. Patients above 18 years of age with a psychiatric diagnosis as per the International Classification of Diseases 10 and receiving at least one psychotropic medication (any medication capable of affecting the mind, emotions, and behavior) for >1 month were enrolled in the study. Patients who were critically ill, on magico-religious treatment (beliefs prevalent in a particular culture concerning various supernatural influences operating in the environment), diagnosis of dementia, or mental retardation and patients from whom reliable history of illness cannot be obtained were excluded from the study. Drug attitude inventory scale was used to classify patients into pharmacophilic and pharmacophobic groups. Medication adherence rating scale was used to identify the extent of medication adherence. RESULTS: Among 176 patients included, 110 were found to be pharmacophilic and 54 were pharmacophobic. The number of hospitalizations (P < 0.03) and adverse drug reactions (P < 0.001) were found to be higher in pharmacophobic group as compared to pharmacophilic group. Antipsychotics were found to be most commonly prescribed medications among pharmacophobic group (P < 0.001). In this study, patients who had pharmacophilia were found to be have higher adherence score (mean score: 6.98) than patients with pharmacophobia (mean score: 2.9), with P< 0.001. CONCLUSIONS: This study concluded that pharmacophobia toward psychopharmacological agents can significantly reduce the medication adherence among patients with psychiatric disorders.