Psychotropic medications are potentially overprescribed for conditions that could be treated with psychotherapy, relaxation techniques, and simply allowing spontaneous remissions. Which conditions would be most appropriate for medication treatment? Which diagnoses are most likely to have medications overprescribed?
My clinical experience has often been informative of the fact that medicating a patient is much more likely to be an intervention unconsciously used to reduce the anxiety experienced either by the professionals working with him or by the relatives who take care for him.
This is very often the case with patients with severe personality disorders (borderline in particular),patients with anxiety disorders or patients with schizophrenia.
In many of the cases the expectations imposed upon medication treatment are very high, unrealistic and often end up with disappointment.
In my experience, if the behavioral conditions are severe, like excessive anxiety, severe depressive or manic conditions and or psychosis then medicines are quite useful otherwise counseling and psychotherapies should be encouraged and family should be involved,if therapist suspects the pathological familial patterns in the development of psychopathology. As in the case of Expressed Emotions
Families (EEs), where families are critical, hostile and over involved. this most of the time is the cause of disorder and/or is the significant cause of relapse of patients.
In my opinion, the use of drugs poses serious risks, but however it is sometimes necessary to assume. A patient who does not sleep, no resting, maintaining a high level of activation permanently, will not be able to benefit from psychotherapy. If it is necessary to use drugs in the first time it should be done, but explaining to the patient that this is not the solution, managing expectations and attributions to the drug and quickly introduce emotional control techniques. The main objective is to restore the experience of superior control over automated behaviors.
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