Olanzapine as the ideal trip terminator? Analysis of online reports relating to antipsychotics' use and misuse following occurrence of novel psychoactive substance-related psychotic symptoms

ObjectiveThe pharmacological self-management of novel psychoactive substance (NPS)-induced psychopathological consequences represents a fast growing phenomenon. This is facilitated by the frequent sharing of NPS intake experiences online and by the ease of access to a range of psychotropic medications from both the online and street market. Olanzapine is anecdotally reported by Web users to be the most frequent self-prescribed medication to cope with NPS-induced psychoses. Hence, we aimed here at better assessing olanzapine use/misuse for this purpose. MethodsExploratory qualitative searches of 163 discussion fora/specialized websites have been carried out in four languages (English, German, Spanish, and Italian) in the time frame November 2012-2013. ResultsMost NPS-users allegedly self administer with olanzapine to manage related psychotic crises/bad trips. This may be typically taken only for a few days, at a dosage range of 5-50mg/day. ConclusionsOnly a few research studies have formally assessed the effectiveness of olanzapine and indeed of other second-generation antipsychotics to treat NPS-induced psychosis. Olanzapine was suggested here from a range of pro drug websites as being the ideal molecule to terminate bad trips. Health professionals should be informed about the risks related to olanzapine misuse. Copyright (c) 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.