The main aim of The Guidelines is to provide clinicians with practical and useful advice on the prescribing of psychotropic agents in commonly encountered clinical situations. The advice contained in this handbook is based on a combination of literature review, clinical experience and expert contribution. We do not claim that this advice is necessarily 'correct' or that it deserves greater prominence than guidance provided by other professional bodies or special interest groups. We hope, however, to have provided guidance that helps to assure the safe, effective and economic use of medicines in psychiatry. We hope also to have made clear precisely the sources of information used to inform the guidance given.

Please note that many of the recommendations provided here go beyond the licensed or labelled indications of many drugs, both in the UK and elsewhere. Note also that, while we have endeavoured to make sure all quoted doses are correct, clinicians should always consult statutory texts before prescribing. Users of The Guidelines should also bear in mind that the contents of this handbook are based on information available to us in December 2014. Much of the advice contained here will become out-dated as more research is conducted and published.

No liability is accepted for any injury, loss or damage, however caused.

Notes on inclusion of drugs

The Guidelines are used in many other countries outside the UK. With this in mind, we have included in this edition those drugs in widespread use throughout the western world in December 2014. Thus, we have included, for example, ziprasidone and iloperidone, even though these drugs are not marketed in the UK at this time. Their inclusion gives The Guidelines relevance in those countries where ziprasidone and iloperidone are marketed, and may also be of benefit to UK readers, since many unlicensed drugs can be obtained through formal pharmaceutical importers. We have also tried to include information on drugs likely to be introduced into practice in the next two years. Many older drugs, or those not widely available (methotrime- prazine, pericyazine, maprotiline, zotepine, loxapine etc.), are either only briefly mentioned or not included on the basis that these drugs are not in widespread use at the time of writing.