Psychiatrists?

Question

Psychiatrists who are more inclined therapies with no meds or psychiatrists who are more inclined therapies with meds?

Answer 1

Psychiatrists are more inclined to prescribe medicines. If you go to one, you should plan on likely getting a prescription. If you want therapy with no meds, then go to a Psychologist (who will refer to you a Psychiatrist if they feel you need meds).

Answer 2

It really depends on the diagnosis. Some things seem to be more responsive to talk therapy than to drugs. The best treatment for most disorders is a combination of both, but neuropharmacology is still in its infancy, and there is not a pill for everything.

Neuropharmacology, however, is finding more chemical reasons for psychiatric disorders all the time. After all, the brain is an organ just like the heart. The heart needs a correct balance of certain ions (Na,+ Cl-, K+) to conduct the signal that causes it to beat correctly. A shortage or overabundance of some of these can wreak all kinds of havoc. So too, the brain requires certain nutrients to manufacture neurotransmitters and even then, for reasons we may not yet understand, they are not produced in the right ratios, etc. I think eventually, there will be a medication for all psychiatric ills, just like there is now insulin for diabetics or thyroxin for hypothyroidism. It may be a century from now, but it will happen.

Now we know that schizophrenia and bipolar disorder have organic or physical causes. These illnesses, or a propensity for them can be genetically passed on from one generation to the next. (The same is true for alcohol and some other addictions.) As a result, we now have substances available that can correct some of these imbalances either partially or completely.

Even if there is a medication for a mental disorder, that person needs help in dealing with his illness. You can't just give him medication and send him on his way. It's traumatic to have such a disease, and a person needs to have someone he trusts to help him get through it.

I personally would stay away from a psychiatrist who refuses to give me an antidepressant if I am depressed and who thinks he can talk me out of it. By the same token, I would not feel that I had been properly cared for if I were given medication only. A combination of the two is always the best answer.

Answer 3

no meds.