Psychopharmacology

Another story alerting people to the potential dangers of drug treatments in psychological disorders can be read here. It is also due to be aired on television this weekend.

I won't go through all the details as you can follow the link to the article yourself but the basic premise is that adverse effects from anti-depressant treatments can actually worsen the situation. The article claims support from leading doctors and medical researchers but fails to provide any details which makes it hard to give any serious consideration to. It will be interesting to see what the television report covers.

For any readers, there are two important things to take from this article.

Firstly, the words of Professor Gordon Parker of The Black Dog Institute:

"The key thing when a clinician is managing

a patient is to do a cost benefit analysis: is this

drug helping, does this drug have side effects?"

Absolutely. If you're being prescribed medication, any medication, you should be asking this question for yourself.

Secondly, the fact that Australia has typically relied heavily on pharmaceutical interventions in mental illness because psychological assistance has been typically been largely available only to those who can afford to pay for it. Thankfully, recent changes to Medicare have changed that. If you're experiencing problems, make sure you ask your GP about the new psychological initiatives covered by Medicare.