If you are on medication or are looking to begin treatment, please contact your doctor or health care provider over any concerns/questions you may have
Medication plays a crucial role in the treatment of mental disorders and conditions. They are often used in combination with other treatment approaches, such as psychotherapies and brain stimulation therapies. Medication for mental health is just like medication in physical health, yet there exists a lot of stigma around them, with false information spread in vast. If you wonder whether psychiatric medications are safe to use, check out this article to find out.
Are they Safe for Use?
When used as prescribed, most medication for mental illnesses are effective and safe to use. But that is not to say that some of them do not have side-effects. For example, clozapine (Clozaril®) poses a risk of lowering immune system function, valproate (Depakene®, Depakote®) has a risk of causing liver injury and lithium has a risk of decreasing kidney function (to know more click here).
But it should be noted that any medicine, even the paracetamol we use for fever, have side-effects to them, especially with long term use. So, it’s not wrong to assume that psychiatric medicines too would have their set of side-effects. But psychiatrists know the side effects in the medicines they prescribe and they prescribe it according to the patient’s need and after thorough research into their medical history. After prescription, psychiatrists check with the patient to know their and their body’s reaction to the medication.
“As psychiatrists, we assess the patient’s benefit and side-effect ratio to analyse whether the medication needs to be changed or continued”
Psychiatrist Dr Mohamed Abhsad
Common side-effects to psychiatric medication include diarrhoea, constipation, tremors, extra salivation and dysarthria (slurred speech). Dr Abshad adds here that when these side effects are discovered, psychiatrists tend to continue with the medication if the side effects are minor as compared to their benefit, and provide other medicines to curb the side-effects, or substitute new medication for the ones causing the side effects, all based on the patient’s comfort.
Can they Cause Addiction?
“Certain medication, sleeping pills like benzodiazepines, have addictive potential. Which is why they are only provided for 1-2 weeks, just until the main drugs like anti-depressants or anti-psychotics begin to work”
Psychiatrist Dr Mohamed Abhsad
Once the main drugs begin to work, the others are cut down in regards to their dosage till they are completely taken off, so that the patients do not get addicted or experience withdrawal. Antipsychotics and antidepressants do not have addictive potential as they do not make you feel better as you consume more as they take at least 3-4 weeks to show effect. That is, they do not provide instant gratification, unlike other addictive medications. And except for disorders like Schizophrenia, which requires lifelong medication, other disorders are usually given medicines for 6 months to 1 year, along with therapy (depending on the disorder). Especially for depression, if therapy and medication are taken side by side, medications can be stopped between 6-9 months.
“But it does depend on the condition. If the condition is recurrent, we might have to treat it a bit more aggressively”
Psychiatrist Dr Mohamed Abhsad
Is it Safe to Start or Stop these Medication Without the Doctor’s Advice?
Dr Abshad tells that there are proper ways to start or stop a medication. Doctors increase the dose based on its use and side-effects until the right dosage is met, and decrease the dosage to finally stop once the condition is treated. And only a doctor can advise the patient in this matter. Stopping or starting them without consulting a doctor can pose huge problems, like addiction or bad reaction to the medication. With medicines like benzodiazepines, which can be taken to calm anxiety, can become addictive if taken without the doctor’s advice.
“It is for the patient’s good. There is no point in replacing a problem with another problem”
Psychiatrist Dr Mohamed Abhsad
Till date, psychiatry has not been able to completely cure mental illnesses, but they have become successful in managing them, wherein patients can be restored to being functional individuals of the society. Psychiatry as a medical specialty marks its beginning only in the middle of the nineteenth century. And it has only been about 50 years since mental illnesses began to be treated using psychiatric medicines.
Dr Abshad believes that newer medicines are coming, and health professionals around the world are hopeful. An illness might begin at an early age, say 13-14 years, but would probably start showing symptoms ten or fifteen years later. But even with that, the current advancement in psychiatry can help you to manage or control your illness, letting you live life normally and even expand your life expectancy. And taking psychiatric medicines are never a symptom of weakness, as often reflected in society.
Just like any disease requires medicine and treatment, mental illnesses too aren’t void of them. Lack of awareness makes people believe that exercising, praying or even meditating is enough to sort out mental illnesses. Even people within the scientific field engage in this sort of behaviour. But it is necessary to understand that mental illness is not an excuse and one doesn’t have to go through life suffering, when you can take control of your life with a little help from the right people.
For extra support if you are experiencing issues surrounding mental health:
- Contact your GP