I No Longer Recommend Psychiatric Medication

This resulted in them asking their doctors, mostly primary care physicians who have little training in psychology, about a variety of prescription drugs. The doctors, whom are easily influenced by the young, sales representatives, are given free samples from drug companies which further pushes the prescribing of expensive medications. Primary care doctors prescribe 80% of psychotropic drugs and as mentioned prior have little training and/or little interest in psychiatry; in addition they spend little time actually evaluating symptoms. A majority of these doctors tend to favor pill solutions and some even build their practice on becoming known for passing out prescriptions for whatever the patients wants. A consequence of diagnostic inflation leads to an increased cost for unnecessary drugs and psychiatric treatment.

Humans who are being over diagnosed with disorders, causes the spending of too much money on drugs and medication that could be harmful and is not needed for them to take. The objective of this book is to let people become aware of what is going on around the world. The audience that this book aims towards is the public. The main objective of Dr. Frances is to alert the public, health care professionals and clinicians about the misinformed diagnosis of people and the misdirected treatment and medications that are prescribed to people who are “normal.” Everyday pains and suffering are being diagnosed as mental illnesses and disorders. Psychiatry has specified people with false labels. The first of many arguments is that people are very worried that when a new disorder is brought up, that they have this disorder or illness. Another argument in this book is the misdiagnosis between mental disorder and normality. Many people who experience completely normal grief could be mislabeled as having a psychiatric problem. The next argument is to separate the people who have diseases from normality. Allen Frances blames the internet and social networking for the over diagnosis of mental disorder. This book is also about the high percentage of people who are now diagnosed with a mental illness,

“Hallucinations and voices that caused schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders have been stopped with the use of new medications”. (MHT, 2) “Just as aspirin can reduce a fever without curing the infection that causes it, psychotherapeutic medications act by controlling symptoms,” (MFMI, 4). “Another advantage of these medications is an increased understanding of the causes of mental illness. Scientists investigate the results of the medications, and through these results, they have learned a great deal about the working of the brain system.” (MFMI, 4) The use of new drugs has made it possible for mentally ill persons to live a normal life.

They are popularly referred to as being part of a continuum, the ability to successfully perform in productive activities and relationships, as opposed to the inability to do such things (Mental Illness Overview). Ever since the first edition of the DSM was published in 1952, scientists have studied how a person’s mind relates to their brain and whether the disorders they listed were organic or purely in the mind (Arben). Science has made extraordinary leaps in this aspect, as they have come to discover not only the biological change that causes mental illnesses, but they are also able to pin down even specific chromosomes linked to them. One in particular that has been heavily studied is depression, which is known to be related to a lack of the neurotransmitter serotonin in the brain. Some of the more recently developed medications, known as SSRIs, block the receptors that recycle serotonin from taking in too much and allowing enough to carry proper signals throughout the brain (Johnson). While some people insist on the opinion that drugs such as these are overprescribed (Medications for Mental Illness Are Overprescribed), professionals use tested algorithms when determining whether a patient is in need of medication, and if so what medication to use (Restricting Medications for Mental Illness Harms Patients). These methods have been fine-tuned over the past few decades and are used treat a patient to their own personal needs, and to aid

It seems that the more human development changes, the more there is a demand to understand the role of pharmaceuticals in daily life with regard to mental health. In the article, The Mental Heath Practitioner and psychopharmacology, "a growing challenge for mental health counselors is to understand the potential benefits and limitations of many different types of drugs" (Dickinson & Kaut, 2009 p. 204-205). Incorporating a thorough treatment plan, which might include the use of prescription drugs (Anderson & King, 2004).

As we have seen, treatment of schizophrenia with antipsychotic drugs can have impressive results in terms of decreasing active symptoms, although it does nothing to alleviate negative symptoms or to improve cognitive functioning. Unfortunately, this kind of treatment has the drawback of extremely serious and even fatal side-effects. Newer generation atypical antipsychotics offer more hope, as they can treat both active and negative symptoms, and also improve cognitive functioning. Moreover, they have fewer side-effects. However, treatment is complicated by the fact that results are unpredictable; and in addition the side-effects that they do have can be very serious, such as diabetes, which in itself is life-threatening. However, as the potential side-effects are known, the physician has leeway to choose a drug which is a good match for the patient’s clinical profile. Then, once the patient’s symptoms have been much alleviated with an appropriate newer generation atypical antipsychotic, the patient should be able to also benefit from a range of psychotherapeutic interventions. It is argued that this is the best treatment regime to choose, as it is likely to result in the greatest improvement in quality of life, coupled with the lowest risk of potentially devastating side-effects, or of death. This is likely to be better than utilizing cognitive behavioral therapy, the results of which are not reliably known – although research has certainly shown that it is less efficacious

America is running into the problem of inappropriate prescribing. Particularity, research has shown that Americans are taking medication that may be inappropriate for their mental problem. It is easy for any physician to send out a drug or write a script to treat a mental health disorder. The problem is that it may not be the safest and the most effective for the patient. Patients are now easily to receive psychotropic medication without the correct evaluation by a mental health professional. “Many Americans visit their primary-care physicians and may walk away with a prescription for an antidepressant or any other drug without being aware of other evidence-based treatment that might work better for them”

With this shocking realization, hundreds try to change this. Psychiatrists and Psychologists use pills, medical procedures, and treatments to alter the genetic coding of this percentage of people. “The introduction of psychopharmacology is arguably one of the most significant and successful contributions to mental illness treatment, although it did lead to a movement that has been devastating to mental health care systems around the world, especially in the United States.” Because of the growth of Psychiatric medication and therapy, there are close to nothing left of Mental Hospitals and

In the book Psychiatric Drug Withdrawal, Dr. Peter R. Breggin Breggin establishes guidelines to assist prescribers and therapists in withdrawing their patients from psychiatric drugs, including those patients with long-term exposure to antipsychotic drugs, benzodiazepines, stimulants, antidepressants, and mood stabilizers. He asserts that pharmaceutical companies along with the influence of managed care in health care settings have led to psychiatric medication being considered the answer to address mental illness. Dr. Breggin utilizes years of clinical experience, discussions with colleagues, and research to develop this insight. This insight is highly beneficial to aspiring practitioners and practicing professionals in five distinct ways. It helps to practitioners to recognize common and sometimes overlooked adverse drug effects that may

Schizophrenia is a life-long disorder that affects about one percent of the population (Mueser & McGurk, 2004). The cause of this mental illness is still unclear. Studies have suggested that Schizophrenia does not arise from one factor but from a combination of genetic, environmental, and social factors (Liddle, 1987). People diagnosed with Schizophrenia struggle to deal with a multitude of symptoms that make it difficult to function (Mueser & McGurk, 2004). Antipsychotic medications are a popular treatment of the symptoms of Schizophrenia (Mueser & McGurk, 2004). Research is constantly being done to develop these medications to enhance the quality of life of those diagnosed with Schizophrenia.

The atypical antipsychotics currently are the dominant branded class of psychotropics (e.g., Zyprexa, Abilify, Geodon, etc.), but they are systematically losing their patent lives as well, and older, generic psychotropics remain highly prescribed, such as the stimulant methylamphetamine [ADHD medication], previously the branded ‘Ritalin.’ Makers of stimulants, in particular, have continued to rebrand their products as patents expire.

Later, other classes of typical antipsychotic drugs were used for treatment of schizophrenia, such as butyrophenones and thioxanthones. These drugs were effective methods that transformed the treatment of schizophrenia and decreased the number of hospitalized individuals suffering from the disorder by half. However, twenty-five percent of those suffering from the disorder were unresponsive to the antipsychotic drugs (Adams, C. E., Awad, G. A., Rathbone, J., Thornley, B., & Soares-Weiser, K., 2014). The typical antipsychotic drugs worked best at treating the positive symptoms of schizophrenia but did nothing to treat the negative symptoms of the disorder (which are the lack of motivation and deficit in interpersonal skills). If individuals with schizophrenia discontinue the medication, a total of seventy-eight percent will relapse within a year and ninety-six percent within two years (Gitlin, M., Nuechterlein, K., Subotnik, K. L., Ventura, J., Mintz, J., Fogelson, D. L., . . . Aravagiri, M., 2001). Side effects of typical antipsychotic drugs were significant and would cause many individuals to discontinue their use (Nolen-Hoeksema, 2014). Side effects include grogginess, dry mouth, weight

The debate over whether clinical psychologists should be granted the right to prescribe psychoactive medications has received considerable attention over the past 2 decades in North America and, more recently, in the UK. Proponents of granting prescription privileges to clinical psychologists argue that mental healthcare services are in crisis and that the mental health needs of society are not being met. They attribute this crisis primarily to the inappropriate prescribing practices of general practitioners and a persistent shortage of psychiatrists. It is believed that, as they would increase the scope of the practice of psychology, prescription privileges for psychologists would enhance mental health services by increasing public access

Today, mental issues like ADHD, schizophrenia, bipolar disorders, and depression are better understood thanks to past experience and seen as a minor neurosis. Unfortunately some treatments depersonalize these individuals leaving them empty and plain. There are clear examples of negative connotations attributed to medications. In his autobiography, the

Equally important researchers also become faced with other problems seen within humanity such as obesity a metabolic syndrome, which causes an increased risk of cardiovascular disease and type II diabetes (Reynolds and Kirk, 2010). Demonstrations of this research persist with an assumption of a person(s) “consuming antipsychotic medication are likely to contribute to a decrease life expectancy along with other drug related mechanisms” (Reynolds and Kirk, 2010). In many instances, many medications taken produce some unwanted side-effects, as a result, will cause a person to take a supplement to counteract the side-effect. Uniquely, the responsibility of routes of medication, and the medication itself serves an important purpose of perseverance. However, when administering medications, it should never be concluded that drugs are given to intentionally produce negative outcomes, excluding the thoughts of IDUs of course.