I'm with you (hence going into medicine).  I think that if people are just given meds and no therapy, you're doing them a major disservice, but meds are very needed in some cases because it's about the brain physiology being "off" from what it needs to be in order to let you function in society.

Both talk therapy and medicines can work well to treat psychological disorders.  The effectiveness of both types of treatment varies from person to person.  In the case of therapy, the quality of the therapist's relationship with the patient is a large factor; there are things required of both the therapist and the patient for psychotherapy to be effective.  In the case of medicine, certain drugs work better for certain people for certain problems.  Often, a combination of drugs and therapy is the most helpful.

Let's not treat "psychological disorders" like they're all the same thing or treat individuals with psychological disorders like they will all respond to the same treatment modality.  There is a role for medication with some patients, there is a role for talk with some patients, and there is a role for behavioral therapy with some patients.  And there is substantial research to guide the decision.  The art of treating persons with psychological disorders is to do a comprehensive, individualized assessment and then to put together a package of treatments that derive not from the clinician's personal bias but from the science and from the individual assessment.

I agree with your friend. Many things can be solved by talking, and I think that people automatically feel better when they take medicine. If people were given placebos but told they were antidepressants I bet they would feel better even though the medicine is not doing anything. It's the thought that the medicine is helping that may actually be making people healthier mentally. If one has faith in himself and his mental health then all will be fine, in my opinion. 

It's driving me insane that the title of this is spelled wrong! heh.

There are some mental disorders that are very clearly more physiological in nature --bipolar is one of them.  For these, talk therapy usually isn't ever considered alone since meds are so effective for treating them. 

There are other disorders where a combination of "talk therapy" and medication tend to work best, like depression. @CaucasianChopstix@xanga - I don't know about your individual case, since it's different for everyone; however, it has been found that the risk of suicide is actually HIGHEST a short period after the person has started depression meds, so what you experienced was not too uncommon.  This is why the therapy part is so important. The drugs do not immediately make things better, it takes time; and for some people, they don't work. In any case, I hope you are doing well/better now! :)  

I will grant that there are also many disorders that do not require medication, and in fact can be treated with cognitive-behavioral therapy.  However, it would be silly to say that all of them can be treated without medication, just as it would be foolish to attempt to treat all of them with medication. 

@you_were_the_song_all_along@xanga - Drug studies do take the placebo effect into account when they test new medication; all good studies have a placebo control group.  Most studies conducted are "double blind" (neither the patient nor the person evaluating the patient knows whether they got a placebo or the real drug).  You're right in that the placebo group also shows improvement, but in successful drug trials, the group that receives active medication improves significantly more than the placebo group. 

@just_the_average_jane@xanga -  Thank you for your thoughtful comment, and you're right. 

I was on 4 of those 6 at some point.  I believe I tried 13 different medications in total, and none of them worked for very long (if at all).  Some had extremely bad side effects.

I'm diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder (BP), Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD), and Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder (PMDD). I take 150mg of Zoloft, 40mg of Celexa, 100mg of Topamax every night.

Over the years I've observed how people in general react to topics such as mental illness, psychotropic drugs, and psychiatry. What I've observed is that so very many go to one extreme or another in their opinions on the subject. There doesn't seem to be a happy medium.

You have those who have tried to see a therapist, psychiatrist, and take the psychotropic drugs. They ended up having a bad experience due to them either having a bad doctor or them not really being a willing participant in their own treatment. Whatever the reason for their bad experience, they believe that everything that has to do with therapy and psychiatry is a load of crap. Som of these people end up trying to treat their mental illneses on their own with herbal remedies and special adjustments to their diet. There is no real hard evidence to say that such herbal remedies or adjustments to diet is a legitimate treament for any mental illness. However, these people feel that they can do a better job on their own without the aid of a psychiatric doctor.

Then there are those who are clearly conspiracy theorists and have never been to a therapist or psychiatric doctor. They feel that therapy and psychiatry are all part of a conspiracy led by all the drug companies. They refuse to seek any treatment for anything as mild as depression or as severe as schizophrenia because they don't want to help make the drug companies rich.

Then there are those who believe that most of these mental disorders are just made up by doctors to excuse the bad behavior of others. They are the ones who complain about all children in America are diagnosed with ADHD/ADD. They are the ones who blame the parents of ADHD/ADD children for how they act. They are the ones who believe that all America wants to do is to pop a pill to forget about their problems.

As I said, there doesn't seem to be a happy medium. It frustrates me to no end to see all of these people just give up on therapy or never even give it a try. But I'm sure as soon as any of them had a heart attack they'd head for the nearest hospital making sure they had the best cardiologist. As soon as any of them needed a root canal they'd head for the nearest dentist and make sure the dentist gave them pain medication before going home. As soon as one of them got hurt on the job they'd head for the nearest doctor so they can put in a workers compensation claim. In my opinion, they don't really believe that psychiatry is a load of crap or that there is some conspiracy with drug companies at the helm. What they are truely afraid of is what is within their own mind... in the deepest darkest parts of their own mind.

So very many mental health patients give up on their treatment because they find it too hard to find the right "medicinal cocktail" for them. They go into treatment thinking that psychotropic drugs is a one size fits all kind of thing. When they see that their medication's not working they blame their doctor, get frustrated and give up on treatment. The truth of the matter is it takes time, sometimes a long time, to get the "medicinal cocktail" right. What works for one Bipolar patient might not work for another Bipolar patient. Every body reacts differently to all the different types of psychotropic drugs. What it takes is time, listening to what your own body is telling you, and good communication between you and your psychiatric doctor.

One thing that I believe is dangerous is when people go to their family doctor to get psychotropic drugs. They tell their family doctor that they're depressed, anxious, ect. and the doctor prescribes some pscyhotropic drugs. Your family doctor is not trained in psychiatry. In my opinion such doctors shouldn't be allowed to prescribe such drugs. However, legally they can. All I can say is this, would you go to a neurosurgeon when you need surgery on your heart? No of course you wouldn't. When it comes to specific issues, you want a doctor that specializes in that field. Why would you want a general medical practioner trying to practice psychiatry on you?

In closing, there are some out there, like myself, who does believe that therapy, a psychiatric doctor, and a willing and participating patient can be a winning formula in treating a lot of mental disorders. Also, being one to beleive in a Higher Power, I also believe that having a faith in something while seeking  treatment can help even more.

Is this line of treatment a cure for mental disorders? No. This line of treatment is something to be used in order to help the patient better understand their disorder, themselves, and how to manage the disorder in order to live a more productive life. Does this mean that there won't be any pitfalls? No. There will always be ups and downs in life. Why should it be any different when it comes to treating a mental disorder?

@kash - aw it's ok, we know you're human too! 

@GodsGirl62@xanga - brain being off?-is there proof of this?

@azna_gurl@xanga - Lots.  You have some major players in your brain that have to do with moods called neurotransmitters.  The big players are serotonin, dopamine, and GABA. Evidence suggests that many depressives do not respond properly to serotonin; people with schizophrenia have an issue with dopamine, probably a combination of excessive dopamine production, reduced responsiveness to serotonin, and other factors; bipolar has proven more complicated to decipher, but current evidence points to there being two separate components, the depression which as before has to do with not responding to serotonin, and a separate "mania" component related to dopamine response.

It's not a far stretch to realize that biological processes affect how we think. Have you ever felt yourself perk up and be excited about your day or an event after a cup of coffee? Have you been completely wiped out because you missed your caffeine for the morning? These are examples of a mild change in the neurotransmitter activities in our brains. Your mood was just affected by a shift in the levels of these chemicals in your brain.  Now imagine having a disorder where you get that feeling you get from caffeine times about twenty, with all the edginess and intensity and moodiness that goes with it, and that's something like a mania, from what I've read.

I looked for a good link with introductory stuff on these diseases but couldn't find one.  I'll message you if I do.

I think it's possible. I know a lot of people who meds were prescribed to and it didn't work well with them. Or in other situations it would make them worse. Even in some cases they thought they were getting better but it ultimately made them worse and suicidal. I've taken numerous drugs to deal with a lot of my disorders but none of them helped. So I gave up and did talk therapy and it has worked more wonders than any drug can. It's different for different people. Though most people I've seen on drugs it seems as though it doesn't help them- just my opinion though.

I also try not to rely on medication to much. You need to be able to work on yourself without the influence of drugs. If you can do this great, if you can't well maybe drugs are for you. But trying doesn't hurt, finding a good therapist might help as well. They can give you techniques to use if you have Anxiety issues for instance.

Some people benefit from talking to people. Some disorders, and some people, need to have the medication. I have been unmedicated for so long. Then I got out of control where even I couldn't stand myself and I went to see a psychiatrist because whatever was happening at that moment was too much for me to grasp, deal with, and fix.

He diagnosed me with bipolar disorder, and put me on Abilify...then more Abilify...then more Abilify...it wasn't helping me. But I did eventually begin to feel better one day when I wasn't on it any longer and I haven't had that level of insanity since. Was it the medication? Probably not. Was it me talking to someone? Probably. But I've heard of very severe cases of manic depression and those can NOT be left untreated or unmedicated. And what about schizophrenia? If you have a hard time distinguishing reality from hallucinations, is that something that can be TALKED through?