People in America are prescribed lots and lots of anti-depressants, stimulants, and anti-psychotic medications. Some people have suggested that many people who don't have a legitimate medical condition take these drugs to feel better. My question is are psychopharmacological medicines vastly overused in America or do they serve a legitimate purpose for most of the people who use them?

Psychopharmocological drugs serve an important purpose for some people, but I think that oftentimes they are prescribed without the care of a proper diagnosis. This can be very damaging.

Bear with me while I tell you mine own personal experiences with this...

My significant other, as I've mentioned in other threads, has bi-polar disorder. As a teenager, his physician (note physician NOT pyschiatrist) prescribed prozac. Without the combination of a mood stabilizer like lithium, prozac can aggravate bipolar disorder, and it drove him to an even more heightened manic state which hugely impairs a person's judgement. During this time, he took part in a lot of self-destructive activities which also led to a non-violent, non-drug related felony. Understandably, his parents didn't know how to deal with it, so they kicked him out of the house, and he ended up living on the streets. At that point, he was no longer on the drugs, but he lived in a constant state of fluctuation between manic and depressive. It was a bad scene, and when I met him, he was holding a job at Taco Bell and sleeping in my best friend's car.

All that he needed was a good psychiatrist who could properly diagnose him and get him on the right combination of medication to balance him out. We've been together for six years, and while we've naturally had some rough patches relating to his bipolar disorder and the search for a knowledgeable pyschiatrist, life has been very good. Had he been properly diagnosed from the very beginning, most probably, he wouldn't have had to struggle as hard to be a happy and productive member of society.

A few months ago my SO's seventeen year old sister who exhibits many of the same behaviors was prescribed an SSRI by her physician (again physician NOT pyschiatrist). This caused a series of severe anxiety attacks at school and a suicide attempt that left her in ICU for a week before being moved to a psychiatric facility where they told the parents to get her off of the drugs.

Her parents did not take her off of the drugs. Instead, they took her to a different psychiatrist who immediately prescribed another SSRI drug.

This is irresponsible on the part of the parents, the physician, and the psychiatrist. People need to realize that when using drugs to alter the chemicals in the brain, caution is of utmost importance, especially if there is already an imbalance that could be aggravated even further.

Physicians should NOT be prescribing drugs without an extensive psychiatric evaluation, and when drugs are prescribed, they should be monitored closely. Additionally, before accepting drugs from a physician or a pyschiatrist, people should do their own research. Right now, the science of diagnosing psychiatric illnesses is not always black and white. There is a lot of trial and error, and I think that a lot of people are being prescribed drugs to cover up the normal pains and stresses of life.

I know quite a bit about these drugs, no I'm not suicidal, my mother is a psychiatrist. I may be a little biased since I only write with promotional drug pens but if a good doctor prescribes these drugs they are great. There is a difference between depressed and unhappy. For example when the Giants lost the 49ers I was unhappy; I've never been depressed. I know quite a bit about these drugs, no I'm not suicidal, my mother is a psychiatrist. I may be a little biased since I only write with promotional drug pens but if a good doctor prescribes these drugs they are great. There is a difference between depressed and unhappy. For example when the Giants lost the 49ers I was unhappy; I've never been depressed. However the psychopharmacological drug industry doesn't have a history of being great to its consumers. Recently Lily, the maker of Prozac, mass mailed Prozac Weekly to people who had used psychopharmacological drugs in the past. That may not be the standard industry practice but it shows you who is in charge in the drug industry.

I am a pharmacist, so I deal with this issue to some extent. Psychoactive drugs when prescribed appropriately can work wonders in people with properly diagnosed psychiatric disorders. As cyan has pointed out, they can also do great harm when not used correctly. Unfortunately, the extremely high demand for health care services make it very likely that misdiagnosis, misprescribing, and poor monitoring of patients will continue. This is true about all categories of drugs, not just psychoactives.

Good topic, and it is one that effects me on a personal level. I am currently on Zyprexa, an anti-psychotic medication originally used to treat schizophrenia. It is now prescribed to some people with manic depression, which I have. I was extremely wary to go on medication, but the results have been amazing. I am now capable of functioning in society--it does not "numb" my emotions, or make me completley apathetic. I can still cry, I can still feel happy. It has truly done wonders in treating my illness. I do, however, think that anti-depressants are being prescribed too much. If you are alive, then you have mood swings, and you feel sadness, stress, and anxiety. People should not be so quick to jump on the bandwagon of prescription drugs. It makes those of us who have legitimate, life-endangering mental illness seem less legitimate. I believe that doctors are too quick to prescribe medication without really looking at the person's symptoms. Don't physicians get some sort of paycheck reward when they prescribe a certain pharmaceutical company's brand? Not sure about this, but I have heard it before. If this is the case, then it would make sense that a doctor would want to prescribe as much of a certain medication as he/she can in order to get that money. So, yes, I think drugs are being prescribed too much, and I think it is taking away from the legitimacy of tru mental illness.

Myself, I have bi polar disorder. I was diagnosed in October of 1999. At that time they prescribed me prozac, then quickly changed my meds to Paxil. I was on Paxil for about 2 years, then I had an episode, and stayed at a facility for about a week after attempting suicide. I wasn't being seen by a psychologist at the time, my regular physician was prescribing the Paxil. After my stay at the facility they rediagnosed me...bi polar disorder with dissociative identity disorders (or otherwise known as cutters...even otherwise known as SI (Self Injurers))

As Cyan stated


When I was rediagnosed in 2002, they changed the list of prescripts to take; Depakote (mood stabilizer), Lexapro (anti-depressive), Xanax and Trazodone. I was also taking Seroquil for my flashbacks and nightmares *from an accident that had happened in September 2002*

What had happened was when they prescribed me the Paxil, they didn't have something to equilize it...so to speak. Without the mood stabilizer, it was doing no good. I had my up days and my down days. They'd both go to major extremes, I tried to control them, but anyone with bi polar knows it's hard.
Without those meds, I would still have those up days and down days to the major extremes. I'm pleased to report that I haven't had an actual manic nor depressed episode in a while. I still have my semi depressed times, where I just don't know what I'm going to do, but they're not to the extreme that I want to harm nor kill myself. I believe in those medicines, I believe that if I wasn't on them, I wouldn't be in the shape I am. I'm more aware of the things around me, I'm not as reckless as I was before...and I care about things...especially myself. *however I think that has a lot to do with the accident and it made me value things more* I'm happy that I was diagnosed, because if I hadn't been I wouldn't have gotten help. Even though this post isn't about the disorders themselves, it's about the medicines that come along with the disorders. It's been a year since I've been on them, and after September of this year my doctor will be slowly taking me off of them, just to see if I'm ok. I know I'm ok, and I know that there is a way to be ok without the medicines...it just helps to have that extra little thing...
Anyway, that's my personal experience with the meds. Hope it helps someone...and if you have any questions about any of the above disorders..or you yourself have a problem..you can PM me anytime.

The drugs used to combat mental states of mind are really only used against for the most part easy to identify chemical based problems, or a well known mental illness. The drugs themselves are going to get better as they are moved more heavily into how to treat people, you have a whole populous to work with. Many things have been made to speed up advancement and production such as the smartcube and other. This psychotropic drug market, for lack of better words, is more applicable and useable by society, can be integrated into the medical and law/regulation systems easier then a psychologist trying to deal with the logos of psyche, which in itself cant get rid of chemical disorders to say the least as far as i know.

APA member quits over drug use in treatment.

I think one of the problems with the drugs industry as a whole, not just psychopharmaceutics, that has not been mentioned so far on this thread, is the medicalisation of hitherto unknown conditions.

For example, until very recently, hyperactive children were a tiny minority. Where they were treated at all, it was with behavioural therapies (often, sadly, being no more sophisticated than a clip around the ear), but most kids were assumed to grow out of it. Since drugs have been invented to treat it, not only have diagnoses radically increased in numbers, but a whole spectrum of related conditions have been identified (that, coincidentally, all benefit from drug therapies). A small number of people have been genuinely helped, yet a rather larger number of children are now being medicated for being inattentive, loud, overenthusiastic, boistrous, etc. We are medicating the symptoms of childhood!

Similarly, for most of recorded history, men have resigned themselves to sometimes being impotent, and to having a decreasing libido as they age. This was a disappointment, certainly, and for a small minority of men it was a serious problem. Now, though, Viagra means that all "erectile dysfunction" is a problem and Viagra is the solution. Going off sex, or "just not feeling like it tonight" is no longer aceptable. Those men for whom it was a real problem are delighted, but many more men must now worry about transitory impotence as a medical problem, rather than just a transitory one.

SSRIs are increasingly being prescribed for minor anxieties. A friend of mine burned the candle at both ends, and found herself tired, stressed and distracted. 20 years ago, a doctor would have told her to get some sleep and cut down some of her commitments. Today, she gets 50mg of Seroxat three times a day (apologies if the dose is wrong - I'm not a doctor) and goes away with a chemical smile. What's wrong with this pitcure?

It's like the old joke, where I go to the doctor and say "Doctor, it hurts when I do this." and the doc says "Well, stop doing that".

Today, the pharmaceutical industry would be busy trying to invent a drug that stopped it hurting when I do "this", and encouraging the doctor to prescribe it to me, instead of him (or her) just telling me it was a stupid thing to do in the first place.

Its not only that, but more and more the real issues that lead to people needing the drugs or therapy or help in the first place are usually overlooked on why they come about. Nothing is ever really done to find out why mental illness comes about in America, for the sake or brevity on the issue we hand such people to prison systems and a lifetime prescription of controlled narcotics. The APA, both of them are slowly becoming the tool of the legalized drug market here in America, from two year old children to allowing you to cope with your job, there is a drug for everything you can think of. This is also to carry over in the dsm-iv and during phd training in most any clinical settings. one does not have to look far in neuropsychological and neurobiology to see that we are still learning much about such a thing like the mind, yet we feel safe to introduce chemicals into such a system with the hopes of it changing you thoughts, moods and even sexual drives. The billion-dollar industry that this has become of course gives in power and weight in any system, and i see no end in sight for such a company. The following are some related links to the issue.


dsm-iv
an article on related book
activism
ecology of mind
the legal druggin of america