Starting medication is a big step in mental health treatment, and for many of us, that step comes with a lot of anxiety. What if this isn’t the right medication? What if there are side effects? What if this medication changes who we are? These are just a few of the questions that can swirl through our minds when we think about starting mental health medication. But these questions are best asked to trained medical professionals who understand our lifestyle, our family history, the unique factors of our mental health, and the complex nature of psychiatric pharmaceuticals.
The Challenge of Self-Treatment
Nowadays, there is so much information on the internet. This information is available at our fingertips. If we have niggling doubts or gnawing questions, it’s easy to take out our phones and find a myriad of opinions to comb through. But that is not the best way. The internet does not know our individual circumstances. It cannot diagnose us, and it cannot predict our reactions to prescribed medications. So, while the allure of self-diagnosis and self-treatment is obvious, that self-treatment may not actually be what we need for a healthy mind—especially if self-treatment turns to self-medicating. While online advice and so-called best life hacks can be helpful for everyday routines, they are not a substitute for professional guidance when it comes to mental health medication and treatment decisions.
The Danger of Self-Medication
Self-medicating can take many forms. For many of us, the term “self-medicating” conjures the image of drugs and alcohol. These things may seem like a quick fix to bury feelings of depression, anxiety, trauma, and more, they are dangerous, unhealthy, and do not address the root causes of these conditions and symptoms. Even beyond drugs and alcohol, other forms of self-medication can include things like sex addiction, unhealthy eating habits, and even unhealthy patterns like narcissism or antisocial behavior. The common denominator in all of these is that the effect is numbing or ignoring the underlying issues, rather than treating them at their source.
The Importance of Experts
Psychiatric professionals are knowledgeable not only about the nature of various mental health conditions, but also the manner in which those conditions manifest, and importantly, how treatment actually responds to those conditions. They understand how drugs interact with our body and brain, they have learned about possible side effects and how to respond to them (for example, through virtual reality medical training), and they have learned how to accurately diagnose our mental health conditions and disorders for targeted, effective treatment.
One-on-One Help Tailored for You
Unlike the internet, a psychiatrist, psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner, or another psychiatric professional is working directly with us. They take the time to learn about us. They will learn about our history, our habits, our symptoms, and more. They will craft a diagnosis based on their knowledge of mental health conditions and their knowledge of us as individuals. It is through this combination that they can diagnose conditions and collaborate with us to treat them.
Does Mental Health Medication Work?
While drug-free approaches to treatment sound appealing, it is important to think about where emotions and behaviors come from: the brain. Our brain activity is based on electric signals and chemical reactions. These signals and reactions create feelings like fear, sadness, burnout, happiness, motivation, and more. Therefore, effective treatment must act at the source, for example a reduced work schedule. Most mental health medications work by affecting the levels of neurotransmitters within the brain. If these neurotransmitters are unbalanced, so will be our emotions and mental state. Through pharmaceutical intervention, those levels can be balanced, and our mind can be balanced too.
Good Treatment is Collaborative Treatment
Treatment is not “do as we say, no questions asked.” In fact, good psychiatric professionals will encourage us to ask questions. Treatment should be collaborative and patient centered. The end goal is to find a solution that works for us, minimizing side effects, and maximizing our quality of life. That goal is reached through an ever-evolving process where we voice our concerns and needs, and our care provider responds directly. This is the process that forms the basis of psychiatric medication management.
Make the Most of Your Treatment by Staying Engaged
This process is only effective if we are open and honest in communicating. If we are struggling with side effects or having trouble adhering to the plan as prescribed, it is important to tell our provider immediately to begin working on a solution. Mental health medications rely on consistency and careful administration to work as intended. Providers need to know whether the medications are being taken as prescribed, whether they are working as expected, or whether changes are needed.
By staying engaged, informed, and inquisitive throughout the medication management process, we significantly increase the likelihood of successful mental health treatment.
Photo by Joice Kelly on Unsplash
