Medication
Psychiatric Medications | Andipressants
Antipsychotics
Psychiatric Medications
Medications are the main tool used to treat the mentally ill. Most of these
chemical agents affect the neurotransmitters in the brain. Some of these medicines
have distressing side effects, causing patients to refuse treatment. It is for
this reason so many people who suffer from a mental illness find it difficult
to take their medication because some of the side effects make them more ill than
they were before.
Some of the different classes of psychiatric medications are; Antidepressants,
Antipsychotics, sleeping agents and stimulants. Many patients are treated with
a mixture of these agents and finding the right medication/s can take quite a
long time. Often, doctors will experiment with different kinds of medicines to
try and find the best one/s that work for each individual. This is a difficult
process but the field of psychiatry is working on a new process for the future
which will analyze the symptoms of each patient and determine the exact medication/s
to administer. This new development is very promising and may make life much easier
for the mentally ill.
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Antidepressants
The three main groups of antidepressants are SSRI’s (Selective Serotonin
Reuptake Inhibitors), MAOI’s (Monoamine oxidase inhibitors) and Tricyclic
medications. The goal of these antidepressants is to relieve depression and restore
enjoyment to the sufferer.
The theory of depression is that a chemical in the brain called ‘serotonin’
is deficient. This causes people that are depressed to feel sad, lose feelings
of pleasure and in severe cases, suicidal thinking.
The first antidepressants were invented in the 1950’s and tricyclics
are still used today.
They also have anti anxiety properties. MAOI antidepressants such as Parnate and
Aurorix work on a variety of chemicals in the brain. Dopamine, serotonin and norepinephrene
are eliminated from the body by monoamine oxidase after they have been used. MAOI’s
stop this elimination process to increase these chemicals in the brain which may
play a part in their antidepressant effect.
SSRI’s are the most commonly used antidepressants today. Prozac is almost
a common household name. Other SSRI’s are Zoloft, Paxil and Celexa. All
of these medicines work on the receptor Serotonin in the brain by increasing the
level of serotonin. Some of the side effects include; dry mouth, difficulty sleeping,
loss of appetite, sexual dysfunction and sweating. These usually go away after
a month but some may remain. Antidepressants have much less side effects than
Antipsychotics and are also much less severe.
Sufferers taking these medications may seem different to medication free individuals,
However, they are taking these pills to help them feel not so different within
themselves.
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Antipsychotics
Antipsychotic medications are the most potent of all psychiatric
medications. Unlike antidepressants, these drugs work mainly on a receptor in
the brain called Dopamine. However, they do not increase dopamine levels like
antidepressants increase Serotonin. They actually decrease dopamine because it
is thought that dopamine transmission is enhanced when a person is psychotic.
There are many theories as to what actually happens in the brain to cause a person
to become psychotic but this is still unknown today. Also, the exact workings
of these antipsychotic medicines are unknown but we do know that they reduce psychosis.
There are currently two classes of antipsychotics and they are Typical and
Atypical. The older ones are classed as typical and they were first developed
in the 1950’s. These medications work on dopamine and are effective on psychosis
in most cases but they produce some very distressing side effects. One of major
concern is Tardive Dyskinesia which is uncontrolled movements. You may have seen
people in your community that might have a neck spasm or facial spasm. It’s
very sad that these things may have been caused by antipsychotics. Atypical antipsychotics
are not much better which is of great concern because you would think that the
drugs developed today would be much better. Atypicals work on dopamine and Serotonin
and even some other receptors in the brain. All by lowering the transmission because
another theory was that all these receptors in the brain were responsible in some
part for psychosis. These newer medications still do cause Tardive Dyskinesia
in some people and a new side effect that has become very prominent today. Weight
gain is a very common side effect seen with Atypical Antipsychotics which can
lead to all sorts of life threatening diseases such as heart disease and diabetes.
Some people gain over 100 pounds on these newer drugs and it is extremely hard
for them to lose the weight because the drugs somehow alter the body’s natural
way of storing fat, which is also unknown at this stage.
Some of the atypical medications are Olanzapine, Risperidone, Quetiapine, Amisulpride,
Abilify, and Ziprasidone. The first and most effective atypical is Clozapine which
has been proven to be effective in treatment resistant patients and is the only
antipsychotic that has shown efficacy when others have not.
People on these medications often look ‘zoned out’ and this can
make society look upon them as different, not to mention the stigma of their illness.
However, if we look beneath that and see the ‘True Colours’ of their
heart and soul, maybe the suffering won’t be as life altering as the illness.
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By Elijah B.
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