Do you believe people with mental illness should be medicated or not and why?

Question

My feelings are that if a person has the coping skills to survive and cope with everyday stressors then why take a mind altering med. But if you can't function at all with out meds then that is your choice to take the med if it helps. But there has to be other ways of coping then popping a pill to help. So please help agree or disagree just try to give some help to the mentally ill people. After all we all are not so normal are we?

Answer 1

this is a great question, some pills make a big difference between someone being able to function in society/. However drug companies are corrupt IMO, and are after treating it, not curing.

Answer 2

Most mental illnesses that are caused by a lack of an essential chemical in the brain that your body is not producing for some reason beyond your control require medication. I find it very interesting that alot of mentally ill people obsess on their medications and want to get "off" the meds asap; or say it's not helping them. YOU may not see the difference, but others in your life do. Coping skills...?? Come on, if people could cope with their mental problems there wouldn't be a need for medication or therapy,now would there? So I strongly DISAGREE with your statement. Most mental patients who try to "cope" and get off of the meds end up inpatients.

Wake up! If there is something that can help you, why not take it? That's like telling a diabetic to "cope" with their illness and not give them insulin if they need it.

DISAGREE

Answer 3

well, there are definitely certain illnesses like schizophrenia and REAL bipolar disorder (not just moodiness) that really require medication because they are chemical issues and it's far beyond the person's control, much like epilepsy. The question is, where to draw the line?

I think it's just up to the discretion of the person and their doctor. If an individual feels like they need some outside help, and a licensed professional can be convinced that this is indeed the case, then I don't see any problem in it. Dependancy is a part of life... people become dependant on lots of things, including video games, overeating, and even other people. And those are all things that can have an adverse effect on your life. Perhaps a dependancy on Prozac is healthier than a dependancy on gorging one's self or engaging in promiscuous sex!

So it needs to be considered in context... you can't regulate morality, and you can't illegalize anything that could be bad for a person, because that's not what life is about. Life will always have its traps and pitfalls, and that's a good thing. It's what tests us and makes us human. Some people are strong and don't need a crutch. Some need a crutch just to get them on their feet, and then they're ok. And some never let the crutch go.

Let the people decide for themselves how they want to cope with their issues, because they are after all THEIR issues.

That's my word. :)

Answer 4

I believe there is a role for medication in dealing with mental illness. But when a dependancy on pills occurs, it's debilitating for the human sufferer. We must all believe that we do have the coping skills to deal with life. Mental health professionals should help us find that inner conviction. Definitely, tablets and injections etc. help to stabilise and remind the sufferer what "normality" is - as opposed to feelings of helplessness/uselessness associated with depression, or feelings of all-powerfulness associated with elation (these are the only illnesses I feel I can talk about).
As a person who suffered an elated episode, I can definitely vouch for the benefits of drugs for mental illness... initially. I was high as a kite and nothing but tranquilising injections (or an accident or... things that don't bear thinking about) were going to get me down to earth. After two months in a psychiatric hospital and after what I'd gone through, I inevitably felt depressed and confused. The psychiatrist recommended I go on anti-depressants. I didn't. Luckily I had time and family support to question/resolve the issues causing the feelings of depression. And thank God, I didn't because I think now that it would have been the begining of a diagnosis of BiPolar disorder and that I could be juggling meds for the rest of my life. It took me two years to come off Olanzapeine/Zyprexa and I can't say that I notice a difference in the way my life is with/without the medication (though of course I was weaned off gradually).
It has to be said that medication for mental illness is improving all the time as knowledge of the workings of the brain is expanding. I don't think people should fear going on meds, provided they accept it's not forever and the meds will help on the road to understanding yourself and... life. But I suppose it's easy for me to say! Now that I'm healthy again. Hopefully it'll last.

Answer 5

I think you already have part of the answer.
Jchas is right when she says that "some" mental disorders are actually chemical imbalances, but that doesn't mean that "all" mental disorders should be treated with medication.
So yes, if you're talking about schizophrenia take your meds, please. But if your talking about depression, first you must be sure it is really depression and then consider if you are suited to face your situation without mind crutches. Social support is far more important to solve most mental disorders.
Of course if you ask a psychiatrist you will get medicated a lot more than if you ask a psychoanalyst. Pharmaceuticals will also have a very clear answer. You know why.

Answer 6

I think it has to depend on the circumstances. I know that today there are much more sophisticated drugs than when my father was filled full of Thorazine and forgotten on a back ward of a state hospital. But even then, that was in response to his violently attacking my mother and having the state police come and take him away.

I think a person who is not violent, and not otherwise causing serious trouble (not just annoyance) who does not want to take a psychoactive drug should not have to. On the other hand, if they are doing that well, why would a doctor prescribe a drug? Could it be just for the convenience of the family? Or because the drug companies make it worth his while to answer in terms of drugs whenever there is a question?

What really gets to me is the ease with which intense psychoactive drugs are prescribed to children, administered by their parents, enforced by their schools, without anyone really knowing what it's like for the kid.

Also, there is the hypocracy of it. On the one hand, you have doctors prescribing all that "be a docile little sheep" medication. On the other hand you have cops all over the place to arrest anyone who makes drug decisions for themselves.

What more important need do we have that supercedes the right to decide what does or does not go into your own body? Why are the control freaks that much in control, and is that a good thing? And is it too late to get rid of them?

Vote Libertarian for a change!

Answer 7

I think education is the best med for the mentally ill. But that is not always enough I suppose.
So they give them mind altering pills. I think that it may be OK to take medication but most mentally ill are way over medicated.
I have had doctors push pills on me for stress and anxiety but have never taken them. I do not believe the help only cover it up. I think strength within is the best medicine.

Answer 8

All the medications for mental illnesses are not as harmful as you are thinking. While mental illnesses are still the least understood ones in modern medical science, for some illnesses drugs can help the patients to live an almost normal life and if there exists a facility where a person can be helped, why shuould't they use it?

If popping a pill can help a person from infections like common cold to chronic diseases like cancer, why should we think mental illness as a separate category?

Answer 9

I am of the belief that mental illness may have a physical cause and that most routine medications for stress, panic, etc., while helping, do not help the doctor diagnose the physical causes.

If I was a doctor, I would have all my patients with chronic problems undergo a few simple, but not usual, blood tests, to rule out the possible physical causes for their mental illnesses, basically a fasting blood insulin test. If insulin is high or abnormally low, it can lead to the overproduction of some other bodily chemicals, and the under production of others, which might lead to brain chemical imbalance, which might lead to mental illness.

Answer 10

Almost all people have a fad of this or that. This is also a mental illness. Most of the people like to teach others. This too can be taken as mental illness. Some people like to criticise anybody found unsuitable. These people improve themselves.
There are some who have less thinking capacity. Such people improve themselves if they are put to think without giving a readymade answer.
Those who have poor understanding can improve with teachings and study.
Those who have very less capability to understand or no will need medicines.

Answer 11

I think medicines can be very helpful to people with severe mental illnesses. But I'm also with you on the fact that if you CAN go without them and use alternative treatment, then by all means, go that route. We turn to medicine too quickly these days to fix EVERYTHING. What happened to just taking a little rest and letting your body heal itself? I, myself, always try to make it without medicine because the more antibiotics you take, the more antibiotics you come resistant to so that when a time coems that you really need the help, your body might not accept the medicine they are trying to give you.

When people do decide to take medicines for mental illnesses, I think it's very important for doctor's not to OVERMEDICATE them. That seems to be the solution for everyone today. Everyone wants to feel PERFECT and that's not the way it goes. Life deals us things that it means for us to deal with on our own, including things like depression and anxiety. I hope people can learn to live with their diseases and stop trying to fix everything through medicinal ways. Please don't think I'm some crazy Tom Cruise telling people not to take medicine for PPD. I'm just a simple girl that sees nothing wrong in doing things the old, simple way. Those people survived it then, why do we think we can't now?