W1-Prescriptive Practice in Psychiatric Nursing

Post#1: Prescriptive Practice in Psychiatric Nursing by Olber Lacosta

Both the Ted talk video on “Towards a new understanding of mental illness” and the NY Times article by Danial Carlat “Mind over Meds”, discuss how mental illness has become one of the leading causes of death in the USA. According to both researchers, mental illness has increased the number of suicide cases, especially among youths, surpassing the mortality rate of chronic diseases such as cancer or heart diseases. However, the Ted Talk video emphasizes that deaths from mental illness can be reduced through early detection and intervention of the disease (TedTalks, 2013). On the other hand, the NY Times article argues that psychiatrists should refrain from only using medication to treat patients with mental illness. According to Carlat, psychiatrists should combine both therapy and medication for more efficient and effective results in treating mental health disorders (Carlat, 2010).

Personally, I view the role of psychiatric medication in the promotion of patient well-being as a vital aspect in the treatment of psychiatric disorders. First, psychiatric medication plays a significant role in balancing the chemical imbalances in an individual's brain that causes mental illness symptoms. Through medication, such symptoms are reduced or completely relieved. Secondly, psychiatric medication helps in treating co-occurring mental disorders by preventing their relapses and reducing their symptoms. Also, psychiatric medications help patients maintain abstinence and minimize cravings for addictive substances that harm their health and well-being.

There are various advantages and disadvantages of being a psychopharmacologist versus integrating psychotherapy in their practice. The first advantage of being a psychopharmacologist is that pharmacology allows one to use new administration routes that are more comfortable and convenient. Besides, drug formulations used in pharmacology makes it easy for healthcare providers to improve patients’ compliance. Also, medication is cheaper compared to therapy sessions. finally, medications used in pharmacology increases patients' comfort in dealing with their mental issues, ultimately, improving their health and well-being.

On the other hand, the disadvantages of being a psychopharmacologist are; first, some psychiatric medications have dangerous and unpleasant side effects such as psychosis. Besides, when some medications, i.e., stimulants, and antipsychotics, are regularly used, they can be ineffective to the human body. Third, some psychiatric medicine can easily damage an individual's brain. For example, when neurotoxic SSRIs and stimulants are used for a long time, they damage the brain cells. Other drugs such as benzodiazepines used as psychiatric medications are also addictive to some patients.

However, when psychopharmacology is combined with psychotherapy it yields better results. The integration of medication and therapy decreases the cases of depressive relapses, especially in elderly patients. Furthermore, combined psychotherapy and pharmacology reduces medical dependency after treatment.

Finally, literature greatly supports the integration of therapy and prescription by the same clinician. According to these literature, integration of these approaches provides an opportunity to follow up with the patient, thus, improve the quality of services. When the same clinician prescribes medication and psychotherapy, he/she is able to follow up keenly, keeping track of the patient’s progress. Besides, patients are more satisfied since unnecessary mistakes such as miscommunication between the psychotherapists and pharmacologists are eliminated by integrated care. Lastly, through integrated care, a healthcare provider can choose the best intervention for a particular disorder (Greenway et al., 2020). For example, a provider can prescribe psychiatric medications to a mental condition that is not responding to therapy

References

Carlat, D. (2010). Mind over meds. The New York Times.

Greenway, K. T., Garel, N., Jerome, L., & Feduccia, A. A. (2020). Integrating psychotherapy and psychopharmacology: psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy and other combined treatments. Expert Review of Clinical Pharmacology, 13(6), 655-670.

Ted Talks (2013). Towards a new understanding of mental illness. 2013.