The effect of organizational stress on the antipsychotic medication
levels of patients was assessed over a 1-year period. Through the use of
autocorrelational techniques, medication use was shown to function as a
dynamic homeostasis: Continuous adjustments and counter- adjustments
resulted in an approximation of equilibrium centering around an idealized
dose level. Graphically, these homeostatic oscillations resembled a
sinusoidal function with distinct amplitude and periodicity. Organizational
stress significantly increased the amplitude of dose level oscillations and
shortened the periodicity of each oscillation. Uncontrolled, this situation
could lead to a state of extreme overmedication followed sharply by extreme
undermedication .
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