I want to begin this with a disclaimer. I am not a medical doctor. If you are on medications and are having issues, please talk to your doctor before making any changes. If you think you should be on medications or off medications, this also warrants a discussion with a doctor. This blog is from a therapist perspective and is not in any way intended to be medical advice.
It’s very common for people to consider taking medications when struggling with mental illness. It’s also very common for people to take medications when diagnosed with a mental illness. I personally believe medications can be very helpful, as long as the person taking the medication has the right attitude and mindset around it. And that is what I am here to discuss.
How should we see psychotropic (meds used to treat mental illness) medications? Should we see them in the same way we see antibiotics? When we take antibiotics, we expect to be better within 5-10 days, with virtually no symptoms. This is a realistic expectation around antibiotics because that’s how those medications typically work. Psychotropic medications work differently.
When we have a chemical disorder, one that produces illnesses like depression, medications can absolutely help balance out those chemicals. However, the thing that most people and even some medical professionals forget to consider or talk about is the impact of our experiences and environment. My friends, no pill will erase trauma. No pill will fix an abusive relationship. No pill will change the loss of a spouse, a child, or a parent. Medications can sometimes dull the emotional impact of these things, but they cannot erase or fix these things.
All too often, I hear words like “my meds aren’t working” or “my meds aren’t helping”. Sometimes, this is true. But oftentimes, this is more than likely due to the fact that their environment or circumstances are difficult and their brain isn’t adjusting or coping well. Medications can help decrease uncomfortable symptoms so that we can cope and adjust better to our environments and/or circumstances, but it’s imperative that we utilize therapy in order to get maximum results when working on healing.
Research shows that those who combine medication and therapy have the best results when working on their mental illness. This especially pertains to those who have a chemical imbalance along with trauma, or difficult circumstances of some kind.
With that being said, however, I think it’s worth noting that sometimes, medications just simply aren’t going to cut it. They especially won’t cut it if there’s no actual chemical imbalance. Those meds are specifically meant to balance chemicals in the brain. But sometimes we are simply getting jerked around by life circumstances, and the thing we need most is guidance and support while learning how to cope with these circumstances. Unfortunately, coping can take time and coping is an ongoing thing, especially when our circumstances are also an ongoing thing.
I encourage any of you, especially those of you who are in therapy, to have open conversations about medications, asking questions about medications. It is likely that a therapist will guide you through how to have this conversation with your prescribing doctor. But it’s also helpful to discuss this in therapy since it’s important to explore whether something might be chemical or circumstantial.
So I say all of this to simply encourage any of you who are on medications or thinking about medications to be sure and evaluate your expectations of what medications can do for you. If you have a therapist, I hope you’ll consider exploring those expectations with them. When we have realistic expectations about what medications can do for us, as well as what true healing and coping looks like, we can accept the timeline for what it is and not get as frustrated with the process.
If you’re reading this and you’re on medications, but not in therapy, and you are still struggling, I hope you’ll consider looking for resources so that you can talk with a therapist or social worker. If there’s one thing I truly believe, it’s that medications should never be the only form of intervention for mental illness. It often leads to discouragement because as helpful as meds can be, they simply cannot treat the circumstances of life nor can they teach you how to best cope with and accept what cards life has dealt.
I wish you all the best! Until Next Time!
April
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