The Benefits and Limitations of Psychoative Medication

How medication effectively treats symptoms but not causes

Over the last few days, I had a serious mental health crisis. It at first manifested as busy thoughts of stress and frustration and an overwhelming feeling of being unloved. I felt as though wherever I went, people felt nothing but disdain towards me, and I felt anguished over difficult relationships in my life, especially with my close family.

I had come off medication a couple of weeks ago. My decision to do this was due to frustration that I wasn’t receiving the love and care from the mental health system that I thought I needed. I felt that the approach of prescribing medication for psychological problems was cold and crude, and I worried the medications were subduing me and making me feel worse and not better. However, the crisis I experienced after stopping medication was so awful, so acute, that I decided I would need to resume taking medication as soon as possible, despite my worries.

It has become apparent to me that psychoactive medication has significant benefits. It can have a stablising effect which is very helpful. While it may not treat the causes of psychological distress, it does treat the symptoms, sometimes very effectively. I know my psychiatrist does believe in a holistic approach to mental healthcare, which is welcome, but I think the system is so burdened that the truly healing aspects of healthcare (such as loving and understanding conversations) can be neglected in favour of the utilisation of medicines.

I realised today, after resuming medication and feeling much more stable, that there are supportive people in my life. They may not be perfect, and none of us are, and a problem with capitalism is that everyone in their working roles has the pressure of families to support and mortgages to pay, as well as rules and regulations to follow, which may affect how loving and compassionate they are able to be, however good their intentions in choosing their job roles.

The other thing I realised, which came courtesy of a supportive neighbour, was that it’s okay to treat the symptoms of mental distress with medication in the short-term, while allowing time to be a healer in the long-term. After resuming my medication, I feel less concern about trying to change things, and a greater willingness to allow life to unfold as God wills in His perfect timing

I regret that my mood has been unstable recently and that I made the decision to stop taking medication, however understandable it may be. I hope and pray that my body is able to remain resilient against the side effects of the medication and that my state of mind will be grounded, helping me to have healthy relationships with the people that God has placed and will place in my life.

Perhaps you are reading this and have had a similar struggle with medication, or wonder about some of the reasons why people are diagnosed with mental illnesses and are prescribed psychoactive medication. I hope my words will have aided someone’s understanding in some way.