Medication effect interpretation and the social grid of management

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.’.