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Why Are Psych Meds Seen as a Moral Issue?

The Complicated Relationships We Have with Medications

By Ashley L. PetersonPublished 5 years ago 4 min read
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For most health conditions, taking medication is typically accepted without too much fuss as a standard part of treatment. When it comes to mental illness, however, medications aren't just something we take. They often become a part of how we define ourselves, and how others define us. Taking medication becomes a moral question, as well as a medical question.

Sometimes people will take a stance against medications as a matter of principle. Many factors may contribute to this, including negative personal experiences, suspicion about drug companies, and beliefs about the causes of mental illness. Those who take the position that mental illness is always based in trauma would tend to be unlikely to embrace medications. This idea appears in the popular book Lost Connections by Johann Hari. Sometimes psychiatric medication is associated with violent behaviour. This suggestion is made in the documentary Letters From Generation Rx.

It's interesting to see how people talk about psychiatric meds on social media. In my experience, anti-medication people seem quick to jump on others and blast them for taking meds. The pro-medication people, on the other hand, seem more likely to say that medications certainly aren't perfect, but they've worked for them. The Twitter hashtag #medsworkedforme is one way to see examples of this.

I can understand why someone might decide that medications aren't right for them. It's a very personal decision that involves weighing risks versus benefits, and sometimes the risks will outweigh the benefits. What I have a hard time understanding is why people take that next step that not only are meds right for them, they're not right for anybody. Why do they feel entitled to dictate other people's treatment choices? Perhaps, it's well-meaning, but saying, "I had horrible withdrawal from drug X so nobody should ever take drug X," is really not helpful.

Medications are a necessary part of the treatment puzzle for me. I will likely be on medications for the remainder of my life. Yes, I have side effects, but still, the benefits outweigh the risks and I am willing to tolerate the side effects. I don't see anything inherently good or evil about medications. They're a tool, and they can be a valuable addition to the rest of the tools in your toolbox.

As a mental health nurse, I've seen some truly amazing instances of medications making a really positive impact on people's quality of life and level of functioning. I firmly believe that mental health professionals have an obligation to be responsive for the people they are caring for. Treatment decisions should be made together, and if side effects aren't tolerable, then the prescriber needs to take that seriously. Unfortunately, some prescribers are not as responsive as they should be, but that is an issue regarding their skill level, rather than a reflection on whether medications are good or bad. Keeping with the idea of prescriber skill levels, anyone who represents psychiatric medication as a sort of wonder drug or happy pill is simply irresponsible.

Another important thing to consider is where people are getting their information from. There's a lot of unreliable information out there, and sometimes results of research studies are incorrectly interpreted by people who lack the research literacy to be able to properly evaluate the findings of the study.

Science still has a long way to go in finding out how we can determine what treatment will work best for which individual with the fewest side effects. The field of pharmacogenomics is looking for answers, but we're not there yet. For now, there's often going to be some trial and error involved, but stigma and anti-medication online trolls should have no place in decision-making about an individual's treatment.

Medication is never the only answer. When it comes to mental illness, meds don't make people well. They get people well enough that they can take advantage of all the other tools in their toolbox to achieve holistic wellbeing. No tool, whether it be medication or something else, defines who we are as individuals. Medication as an option for psychiatric treatment shouldn't be treated any differently than blood pressure pills as a potential option for treatment of hypertension. Psych meds can save lives, and if morals are going to come into the picture, saving lives might be as good as it gets.

In order to make an informed decision about whether psychiatric medications are a good choice or a bad choice, it's important to have a solid, accurate base of knowledge. I find it frustrating when people dismiss medications as toxins when they clearly don't actually know how they work. Knowing more about meds isn't necessarily going to make someone more pro-medication, but at least they're operating from a factual position and have something concrete to back up their their choices.

If you're interested in learning more about your medications and what they actually do inside your body, you can check out my new book Psych Meds Made Simple, available on Amazon.

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About the Creator

Ashley L. Peterson

Mental health blogger | Former MH nurse | Living with depression | Author of 4 books: A Brief History of Stigma, Managing the Depression Puzzle, Making Sense of Psychiatric Diagnosis, and Psych Meds Made Simple | Proud stigma warrior

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