Stand up slowly. Getting off the floor after an hour of gaming, or out of bed in the morning, is where the dizziness tends to catch people.

These are among the best studied medicines in psychiatry, in use for decades. Most of the hesitancy around them traces back to how they get covered in the press rather than to the safety record.

Breaks from medication at weekends or over the summer are a tool for a particular problem, usually growth, rather than something everyone ought to be doing. Where growth is fine, a holiday tends to cost more than it gains.

One kind of long acting tablet works like a tiny pump. Water is drawn in, an inner layer swells, and the medicine is pushed out steadily through a laser drilled hole. The empty shell comes out whole in the stool, which alarms anybody who was not warned.