2003b. Medication effect interpretation and the social grid of management

2 This article reports on two research projects and argues that current medication management research and practice does not represent the complexity of community-based psychotropic treatment. Ethnographic findings are used to demonstrate that a social grid of management exists to negotiate medication ‘effect ’ interpretation. Anthropological and semi-structured interview data are used to illustrate patient subjective experience of atypical antipsychotic treatment. It is argued that ‘active ’ and ‘passive ’ management relationships are produced by the myriad ways individuals manage the gap between the desired and actual effects of medication. It is shown that psychological and cultural ‘side effects ’ are as common as physical ‘side effects’