nNew York Times
Doctors Say Medication Is Overused in Dementia
By LAURIE TARKAN
June 24, 2008

Ramona Lamascola with her mother, Theresa Lamascola.
Ramona Lamascola thought she was losing her 88-year-old mother to
dementia. Instead, she was losing her to overmedication.
Last fall her mother, Theresa Lamascola, of the Bronx, suffering from
anxiety and confusion, was put on the antipsychotic drug Risperdal.
When she had trouble walking, her daughter took her to another doctor
— the younger Ms. Lamascola’s own physician — who found that she had
unrecognized hypothyroidism, a disorder that can contribute to
dementia.

Mrs. Lamascola no longer takes antipsychotics.