What Are Some Examples of Psychotropic Drugs (Particularly Those That Result in Dangerous Behavior)?

Question by spammernaut2: What are some examples of psychotropic drugs (particularly those that result in dangerous behavior)?
Psychotropic drugs alter one’s mental, mood, and / or behavioral state of mind and can result in severe and often bizarre and / or dangerous outward behavior, particularly with regard to social interaction.

Best answer:

Answer by Bk Pt
Psychotropic drugs are basically anything that can be used recreationally… to any extent, that is; substances such as cigarettes and even guarana are not excluded (some teas are technically “psychotropic” as well, due to their caffeine content).

That being said, psychotropic drugs and “drugs” — how the term comes to mind for most — are virtually synonymous. Technically a psychotropic (or psychoactive) drug is defined as “a chemical substance that crosses the blood-brain barrier and acts primarily upon the central nervous system where it affects brain function”.

There are three categories of psychoactive drugs: stimulants, depressants, and hallucinogens. The effects of each drug may vary greatly depending on a number of factors (one example being the subject’s inherent psychological makeup: some individuals may experience reactions to some drug that is atypical compared to most others’ experiences). But that’s all obvious enough…

The point I was trying to get at is that there is also a gradient in terms of how directly the ‘dangerous behavior’ is resulted from the use of whatever respective drug: For example, one may exhibit dangerous behavior as a direct result of ingesting some particular drug *while under the influence* of said substance; this we can refer to as a Tier 1 causal conjunction. Then there are drug-induced psychoses occurring from long-term abuse or withdrawal (e.g., causing otherwise nonviolent people to become violent) — this would constitute the “Tier 2” ranking.

Past that I guess things are no longer really so concretely classifiable… like maybe junkies would come next (excuse my loose application of the term but it’s just an informal way of getting my point across — an “addict” doesn’t necessary suggest [outward] dangerous behavior)… but it doesn’t seem definitive enough to fall into this would-be 3rd tier category, so I’ll leave the Resultant Rankings at those two principal levels.

My apologies for the length of my response, but now I may proceed to answer your question in a clear and more organized (hierarchically categorized) manner. However since I’ve been at this for so long already I myself feel the need to hurry up and finish so I’m going to hurry up and finish…

Alcohol could certainly fall under Tier 1, as would PCP (Phencyclidine). Alcohol can make people act out their aggressions, coupled with impaired judgment. PCP “symptoms are summarized by the mnemonic device RED DANES: rage, erythema (redness of skin), dilated pupils, delusions, amnesia, nystagmus (oscillation of the eyeball when moving laterally), excitation, and skin dryness.” (‘RED DANES’ itself sounds scary enough.) Stimulant psychosis may be induced by powerful stimulant drugs such as cocaine or amphetamines. Many antidepressant psychiatric drugs result in suicidal (self-harming) behavior.

“Behind much of the extreme violence to self or others we see in those taking [psychotropic] drugs is akathisia. […] Akathisia is a terrible feeling of anxiety, an inability to sit still, a feeling that one wants to crawl out of his or her skin.”