Medication mental health problems

On Prozac, Sisyphus might well push the boulder back up the mountain with more enthusiasm and more creativity. I do not want to deny the benefits of psychoactive medication. I just want to point out that Sisyphus is not a patient with a mental health problem. To see him as a patient with a mental health problem is to ignore certain larger aspects of his predicament connected to boulders, mountains, and eternity. 

A third reason LSD users might require medical attention is when they develop LSD psychosis. As mentioned earlier, regardless of the underlying cause of psychosis, the best treatment appears to be the same as that used for people who have similar mental health problems not related to taking LSD. So, a person with psychosis following an LSD trip generally responds as well to antipsychotic therapy as a person who develops psychosis without taking LSD does. 

This book is the result of our collective search for better ways to care for patients with mental health problems. Its purpose is to provide the information a non-MD therapist needs to know about psychotropic medication and collaborative care. It is intended for nonprescribing clinicians who work in mental health. We wrote it with two objectives in mind to give readers a basic sense of pharmacotherapy for various mental health disorders, and, more important, to provide a conceptual framework, a mind-set, and specific approaches for working in a collaborative care environment with medical professionals who do prescribe psychotropics. 

The focus of our text is the collaboration between therapist and physician and the use of medication to treat psychiatric symptoms. Although we use medications to treat mental illness, it is critical for the therapist to know that the use of certain medications for general medical conditions can cause psychiatric symptoms. The therapist must take a careful history, including knowledge of all of the medications that a person takes for any reason if it is possible that a medication is causing the mental health problem, the patient must be promptly referred to his or her physician for medication adjustment. 

Sheltered Public Work (Offentligt skyddat arbete) is a programme that entails work rehabilitation and targets mainly unemployed with socio-medical problems (e.g. persons with substance abuse or mental health problems). Sheltered Public Work is a rather small programme with approximately 5,500 participants per month in comparison to subsidised work, which is... 

This misconception permeates our society and may be hard to dispel because medications do indeed offer help and can actually alleviate symptoms. There are still many professionals, however, who support the contention that mental health problems are often complex and require a multifaceted intervention approach. Relying solely on medications to control or cure mental health problems is not enough. 

Many professionals have questioned the assumption that these medications are profoundly effective particularly in treating mental health problems and when medication is used as the sole method of treatment, core aspects of the disease and the resulting problems often go untreated (Gitlin, 1996). 

There are several societal myths with regard to the use of medications to assist those who suffer from physical health and mental health problems. 

Canino Spurlock, 1994). Clinicians working with this population must be aware of and incorporate the cultural issues and perceptions of medication use that influence the course of counseling among ethnic and minority children (Dziegielewski, Leon, Green, 1998). Dziegielewski et al. (1998) illustrate an example of this when they assert that African American children may learn that it is not culturally acceptable to seek help for mental health problems from formal institutions and professionals outside the family or culture. 

The authors of this text believe that any discussion of medications in today s practice environment should include herbal treatments and remedies. Herbal medications and remedies are not new in fact, interest in these interventions for various health and mental health problems dates back extensively. The resurgence of interest in these strategies is clearly documented. The numerous alternative medicines and treatment strategies available to clients today reflect the attitude that educated consumers are increasingly concerned with the long-term effects of standard medications and that they want to rely less on traditional drugs and more on alternative or holistic means for their health and mental health wellness. 

Phencyclidine (PCP) abuse remains a serious public health problem in large urban areas of the United States, with recent trends suggesting increased use after a period of decline (Crider, this volume). Most clinical and research attention has focused on the psychiatric and medical manifestations of acute or subacute PCP intoxication, especially the organic mental disorders (toxic delirium, psychosis, or depression) that PCP can induce (McCarron et al. 1981 McCarron, this volume Sioris and Krenzelok 1978). 

Abuse. We have all heard the terms substance abuse, drug abuse, alcohol abuse, cocaine abuse, and so on. In one sense, any illicit use of a substance is abuse. For example, from the legal point of view, whenever someone smokes crack (even if it is the only time), (s)he has broken the law and abused cocaine. Likewise, if you borrow a prescription sedative or pain reliever from a friend, then you have similarly abused that medication. That is an appropriate use of the term in many cases, but this is not customarily the way that mental health specialists use the term. From our perspective, substance abuse involves a pattern of repeated use over time that results in problems in one or more areas. These include compromised physical health and well-being, legal proceedings, job status, and relationships as well as overall day-to-day functioning. 

Dopamine and other brain chemicals profoundly influence the way people think and feel. Variability in these chemicals, particularly in the way they are regulated, affects a person s mental health, response to medication, propensity for or against danger, and other behaviors. A greater understanding of brain chemistry will not only provide more insight into what it means to be human, it will also lead to superior treatments and preventative measures to some of the most serious problems plaguing society. 

An important related problem is the trend toward demedicalization of state mental health facilities. Given a host of clinical and economic realities, many HIV-infected patients can only be served by such institutions ( 472). Their complicated psychiatric and medical presentations, however, require a high level of clinical sophistication, particularly in recognizing and managing their physical co-morbidities ( 473, 474). Indeed, an increasing number of patients suffer from a triple diagnosis (i.e., a psychiatric disorder with co-morbid substance abuse and HIV-positive status) ( 475). 

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