Prescriptions for psychotropic drugs, including those sometimes referred to as the "chemical cosh", soar amongst elderly people who are admitted to residential care homes, a new study shows. The study, in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, looks at the prescribing of drugs to calm anxiety and sedate, as well as the antipsychotics which are supposed to be prescribed for severe mental health conditions such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder and only for dementia as a last resort. The researchers, from Queen's University Belfast, carried out the study using information from the Northern Ireland prescribing database relating to over 250,000 people over the age of 65, but, they say, the pattern they found holds good for the whole of the UK. They discovered that only 1.1% of elderly people living in the community in their own homes or with relatives were taking an antipsychotic - the so-called "chemical cosh" drugs, which the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) warns are not appropriate for most people with dementia.