Treatment Overview

Response 1

Psychoactive Drugs in the Treatments of Disorders

In addition to treating psychotic diseases, antipsychotics may also be used to treat mood disorders such as bipolar disorder or major depressive disorder, as well as other mental health issues, such as schizophrenia and paranoid schizophrenia. The doctor may be able to alter the drug or dose in order to reduce undesirable side effects. Some antipsychotic drugs have the potential to induce adverse effects include drowsiness, uncontrollable movements, weight gain, and changes in blood sugar or cholesterol, necessitating frequent laboratory testing. Your doctor will help you pick the proper antipsychotic based on its adverse effect profile, which varies from medicine to drug. Psychotropics are the medical term for drugs used to treat mental disorders. Drugs that affect the brain and nervous system are included in this category (Harvey & Gumport,2015).Drugs used to treat mental illness have an effect on the chemicals in the brain that govern moods and thoughts. Combining them with psychotherapy typically yields better results. Medications may help alleviate symptoms in certain circumstances, allowing other treatment approaches to be more successful. There are a number of medications that may help alleviate debilitating symptoms of depression, such as tiredness or inability to focus, so that a person can devote more time to treatment.

 Strengths and weaknesses

Medications may be helpful in a variety of ways when it comes to treating mental health issues. WHO predicts that one in every four individuals will suffer from mental illness in their lifetime, and that mental and behavioral issues are the leading cause of disability worldwide (World HealthOrganization, 2001). A disorder's first usage of medicine occurs when treatment is no longer a viable choice for the individual. Patients who are unable to manage their disorder's symptoms would benefit greatly from minimizing the medication's negative effects. Medication provided in this situation is critical to the patient's recovery from mental illness. Of patients with significant side effects, certain strengths in drugs help them sleep, control their mood, and ease their day-to-day activities. Suicidal thoughts, sadness, and anxiety are the most common reasons why people turn to drugs for relief. There are certain drawbacks, such as the potential for dependence and adverse effects, once a patient starts taking medication for a mental health problem. Headaches, dizziness, memory loss, cognitive impairment, and weight gain or loss are among the most difficult-to-manage side effect (Caspi & Moffitt,2018)..

Psychoactive drugs in the treatment of disorders over the lifespan

Chemical drugs used for recreational reasons have the power to modify consciousness and behavior as a result of their effects on the central nervous system, which is well-known. Although many people believe that the use of medications to treat mental illness can have an effect on the underlying disease processes themselves, this is not always the case. Rather than treating the symptoms of a disease, these medications can have an effect on normal mental processes and behavior, but this has been conflated with the presumed effect on the disease itself. These "psychoactive effects" are distinct from the "disease-specific effects" of prescription medications in this research. In spite of the fact that psychoactive effects of psychiatric drugs are well-known, their repercussions are not well understood (Moncrieff et al., 2013).

Theories of psychiatric disease

Psychodynamic theory, advocated by Austrian neurologist Sigmund Freud (1856–1939), and behaviorism theory, pushed by American psychologist John B. Watson (1878–1958) were the two major theoretical approaches that first shaped our knowledge of mental illness. According to Freud's psychodynamic theory, mental disease results from the interplay of unresolved unconscious motivations, and it may be treated by engaging in different forms of open discourse with the patient to resolve these conflicts. According to Ivan Pavlov, physiologist and pioneer of classical conditioning, psychopathology is more directly linked to behavioral conditioning and therapy should concentrate on ways of adaptive reconditioning, in accordance with Pavlov's theories.Many epochs of relative scientific stagnation, stigmatization, and exclusion of persons suffering from mental disease have marked Western civilization's connection with mental illness. After the Middle Ages, when supernatural explanations and beliefs were abandoned and rational thinking and experimental reasoning emerged, a humanistic approach to treating mental disease was established up. Modern theories of mental disease, categorization systems, and treatment techniques based on clinical data all emerged as a result of this transition (Khawagi et al.,2021).

Greatest challenges in the use of psychoactive medications

The idea that psychiatric drugs have disease-specific effects has hidden the psychedelic effects of these medications. People with mental issues might benefit from comparing the psychoactive effects and uses of recreational drugs to those of psychiatric treatments. Drugs used in psychiatric treatment may have psychoactive effects, which might alter a person's stressful or distressing symptoms, but these effects can also have a negative impact on the user's mental health. Since psychoactive effects may directly alter mental and behavioral symptoms and hence impact the outcomes of placebo-controlled studies, they challenge the concept that psychiatric medications function by addressing underlying illness processes. Modern diagnostic methods' validity and relevance are called into doubt in light of these impacts and their consequences (Khawagi et al.,2021). As a result, extensive study is required to better understand how psychiatric medicines affect people's mental, behavioral, and physical well-being, as well as how they affect people's lives after they've been taken and how they affect them after they've been taken away.

 

References:

Khawagi, W. Y., Steinke, D. T., Nguyen, J., Pontefract, S., & Keers, R. N. (2021). Development of prescribing safety indicators related to mental health disorders and medications: Modified e‐Delphi study. British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology, 87(1), 189-209.

Moncrieff, J., Cohen, D., & Porter, S. (2013). The psychoactive effects of psychiatric medication: the elephant in the room. Journal of psychoactive drugs, 45(5), 409-415.

Harvey, A. G., & Gumport, N. B. (2015). Evidence-based psychological treatments for mental disorders: Modifiable barriers to access and possible solutions. Behaviour research and therapy, 68, 1-12.

Caspi, A., & Moffitt, T. E. (2018). All for one and one for all: Mental disorders in one dimension. American Journal of Psychiatry, 175(9), 831-844

Response 2

Describe what you believe are the greatest strengths and weaknesses of using the medications to treat psychological disorders:

I am the type who never believes in medication of any kind outside of Tylenol, but I understand that everyone is different and some mental illnesses can be too much for a person to handle. The majority of the medication that is proscribed have serious side effects that come with them and according to research, most patients who receive psychotropic medication are not being evaluated by a mental health professional (Smith, 2012). Not only does the patient have the side effects to worry about but there is also a possibility of becoming addicted to these prescription medications. Cognitive Behavior Therapy is the first line of medication but two or three sessions are not going to show results, 16 weeks of therapy or four months is what's recommended (Jayaraman, 2016), and there are no side effects or potential threats of addiction.

Evaluate the employment of psychoactive drugs in the treatment of disorders over the lifespan from both an ethical and risk-benefits perspective:

In 2010 Americans spent $16 billion on anti psychotropics, $11 billion on antidepressants, and $7 billion to treat attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) (Smith, 2012), as the research mentioned most of these patients are not being evaluated properly. This is a serious health risk-benefit as research shows that at least half of the patients who are proscribed antidepressants are not even benefitting from the active pharmacological effects of the drug (Smith, 2012), but they are dealing with side effects like nausea, headache, and dry mouth (Jayaraman, 2016) and a possible chance of becoming addicted in the future not only to prescription drugs but possible other drugs. These inappropriate prescriptions can also be considered unethical by not evaluating them properly, charging patients hard-earned money for medication that's not going to cure their issues, causing them many side effects, along with possible addictions.

Summarize the theories of psychiatric disease and the scientific rationale behind its treatment through the employment of drug therapies:

Behaviorism is the theory that states that all behaviors are learned from the environment through the process called conditioning (McLeod, 2020) this movement begin in the early 1900s by John Watson (McLeod, 2020) who conducted many experiments regarding behavior. Back in these early days, medication was not being proscribed to patients at the rate you would see today because although those experiments were very unethical, they showed that the mind could be influenced to think a certain way so, behavior can also be influenced positively through reinforcements and not medication. There are mental disorders that may require medication as a treatment like bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, and major depression  (Jayaraman, 2016) but the most rationale treatment for all other mental health illnesses should be different forms of counseling.

Explain what you believe to be the greatest challenges in the use of psychoactive medications over the next several years. Support your statements with references and logical arguments:

The greatest challenge that I see is to start having these patients properly evaluated by the right professionals, research has stated that patients are receiving psychotropic medications without being evaluated by the right professionals (Smith, 2012). This will be quite the challenge because of the number of mental health patients compared to the number of proper mental health professionals who are needed will need to improve, or a better system needs to be put in place to accommodate the patients with proper evaluations.

 

Jayaraman, P. (2016). Do the benefits of psychiatric drugs outweigh their side effects. White Swan Foundation.  https://www.whiteswanfoundation.org/mental-health-matters/understanding-mental-health/do-the-benefits-of-psychiatric-drugs-outweigh-their-side-effects (Links to an external site.) .

McLeod, S. (2020). Behaviorist approach. Simply Psychology.  https://www.simplypsychology.org/behaviorism.html (Links to an external site.) .

Smith, B. L. (2012). Inappropriate prescribing. American Psychological Association.  https://www.apa.org/monitor/2012/06/prescribing (Links to an external site.) .