Why mental health patients take so many drugs that are not needed?

Question

I was once told by a worker that mental institutions will diagnose a patient for everything possible so they can get them on as many drugs as possible. My question is Why? I was told that this is a scam to milk the state for more money, for instance, if you say that a patient is taking 10 pills a day, worth $50 a pill. The state will provide $500/day for that patient prescription. When infact the pills actually cost $20/pill, so the institution can pocket a little money.

I want to hear your comments????????????

Answer 1

You really do have to be joking!!!

The biggest problem in mental health is to get people to take their medication. So many mental health problems can be controlled so easily with a few drugs.

So come on sit down and take your medication and the world will become clear again!

Answer 2

This is a paranoid fantasy. Institutions might bill Medicare for expenses, but it doesn't mean the expenses will be covered. There is a huge national crisis about emergency room treatments and about how so little of it is reimbursed.
Have you ever been on a psych unit? Have you ever known a schizophrenic? Some people are overmedicated, but others are undermedicated. It's not easy to find the right balance for someone who drinks, for example, or for teenagers, whose brains haven't matured yet. The old methods involved tying people up, dousing them with ice water, and beating them. Surely medication is more humane.

Answer 3

Everyone's experiences are different, but that has been mine. When I was thirteen, I was diagnosed with eight different conditions. I have Asperger's but it wasn't added to the DSM until 1994. I was on 10 drugs at one time including, lithium, haloperidol, risperdal, trazodone, methylphenidate and imipramine. My brain will never recover from that regimen. Unfortunately, I was in state custody at the time and had no choice.

We live in a hypocritical society that tells to you take a chemical to make you feel better, but coerces you into taking dangerous large molecule pharmaceuticals that line the pockets of individuals who don't have your best interest in mind.

Answer 4

I think the more admissions you have to a mental hospital, the more medications you end up taking. Each doctor wants to try something new in the hopes of helping you feel better. Once you are out of the hospital, it is possible to find a doctors that will think you are taking too many meds. and will try to gradually taper you off. Not all doctors will think more is better.

Answer 5

I work for a state department of mental health and I never heard of anything like that.

Mental hospitals don't work in a vacuum; they have to answer to JCAHCO, Medicare and Medicaid. Doctors have to justify in writing why they are giving people certain medications. If anything unethical is going on, sooner or later they will be caught. There are also families of patients who have the right to sue the hospital and the doctor if anything goes wrong.

I have heard of psychiatrists who lose their licenses for unethical practices, but if you think all sorts of funny business goes on without anyone checking on it, you are incorrect.

Answer 6

Well, I was in one 5 times, they do diagnose you with a lot, mostly just to keep you quiet, my Mom and boyfriend work at Mental Institutions, and people stay on the drugs afterward to kill the pain away. I quit them, I have too many problems to add to it and I THINK IT IS ALL A SCAM.

Answer 7

In my experience with the mental health system is does seem like they try to diagnose you with tons of stuff so they can put you on tons of meds...My theory was that they get some kind of commission for how many meds they try on you. It IS all about the money somehow, but I can't figure out how they're system works. >.<