Therapies for Disorders, Psychotherapy and Drug Therapy - Research Paper Example

?Therapies for Disorders  a. Psychotherapy is generally superior to drug therapy in the treatment of psychological disorders.  b. Drug therapy is generally superior to psychotherapy in the treatment of psychological disorders.  Introduction Mental health is related to cognition and emotional happiness. It revolves around our behaviour, thoughts, and sentiments. For a person to be mentally or psychologically healthy denotes that he does not suffer from any mental disorders. Mental health directly affects our everyday life, relationships with those around us and even greatly influences our physical well-being (Barlow, 2007). Furthermore, it also reflects if a person is able to live jubilantly; if he is successful at maintaining an adequate balance amongst various aspects of life; and the ability to be psychologically resilient. Medilexicon medical dictionary defines mental health as “emotional, behavioural and social maturity or normality: the absence of a mental or behavioural disorder: a state of psychological well-being in which one has achieved a satisfactory integration of one’s instinctual drives acceptable to both oneself and one’s social milieu: an appropriate balance of love, work , and leisure pursuits”. Psychological disorder also termed as mental disorder emerges when a consistent pattern of behavioural or psychological symptoms start affecting several spheres of a person’s life or depress a person undergoing these symptoms. Such psychological patterns do not conform to normal development. Certain zones and tasks of the brain or parts of the nervous system help in delineating these disabilities or disorders. The identification and comprehension of psychological health state has evolved with the passage of time and due to cultural differences (Nordqvist, 2009). In other words, it can be viewed as a psychological syndrome or a consistent pattern that emerges in an individual. This behavioural disorder will depict psychobiological dysfunction and normally results in clinical depression or disability. However, expected or cultural-oriented responses in reaction to ordinary pressures or losses do not fall under mental disorder. Psychological disorder tends to influence mental functioning comprising of global and specific functioning. In plain words, it has a great bearing on perception, conscious, intellect, sentiments, attention span, memory, attitude etc. (American Psychiatric Association, 2012).   Recent studies have demonstrated that psychological disorders are more widespread than previously thought. A research by National Institute of Mental Health revealed that in America, almost 26 percent of adults annually are inflicted with diagnosable psychological disorders. Another survey, The National Cormorbidity Survey conducted in 1994 identified that approximately 30 percent of participants suffered from some kind of mental disorder during the preceding year. In addition, it exposed the fact that almost half of the adult population are subjected to some kind of psychological disorder once in a lifetime. The World Health Organization emphasises that mental health is more than mere absence of psychological disorder. It advocates that countries should concentrate on mental well being by incorporating psychological health in basic health care, ensure mental help is provided in general hospitals, and extend psychological health services to the community beyond psychiatric clinics (World Health Organization, 2012). Drug Therapy Fundamentally, drug therapy also known as pharmacotherapy is an effective way for treating patients with psychological addictions or mental disturbances. Primarily, drug therapy is utilised for drug addicts like cocaine, heroin, alcohol, and for things that negatively affect our health in essentially a biological way. It takes into account the makeup of body and deals with the drug imbalances in our bodies. Majority of pharmacists criticize psychotherapy and are of the view that drugs can heal most mental disorders or disturbances. Medical doctors and psychiatrists also hold that psychoactive drugs are extremely efficient; therefore, their use is widespread. The categorization of these drugs is based on the disorder for which they are recommended. Drug therapy is largely used to heal depression that is a form of biological disorder. (Gabbard, 2007) In other words, healing a disorder through medication is called pharmacotherapy. Pharmacists are professionals in drug therapy with the responsibility of guaranteeing safe, adequate, and cautious use of medications. They assist other medical professionals by providing information regarding drugs. Normally they form a part of the multi-disciplinary teams and are directly responsible for the well-being of the patient. Advantages and Disadvantages of Drug Therapy Principally drug therapy requires the same amount of supervision and care as psychotherapy; thereby it can prove to be an ineffective cure in several instances, primarily depending on the drug. Medication helps in the reduction of psychological symptoms as they are based on biological dysfunction. It has been proved that treatment of psychotic disorder, bipolar disorder and schizophrenia are futile without the use of medication. An experiment in different locations and comprising of 240 depression prone patients divulged that Tricyclic antidepressant was as efficient as cognitive and interpersonal therapy used in conjunction. Medication also produced results more rapidly across different locations and seemed to heal depression more efficiently. Studies related to generalized anxiety disorder and obsessive-compulsive disorder generated similar results too. Sometimes people avoid psychotherapy for social and personal reasons. In such instances, drug usage can provide symptomatic respite and can even tone down the symptoms, which would enable a patient to take part and heal from psychotherapy (Gabbard, 2007). Conservative methodology involved the application of psychotherapy method and when it appeared that it was not generating any results, doctors would annex or alter medication. Examples of Success and Failure of Drug Therapy Numerous drug therapies like Tricyclic antidepressants or Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors are used to deal with depression. Although, Tricyclic antidepressants cure a large majority of patients; however, patients become prone to health problems after that. They lead to terrible cardiac troubles, though not fatal. For improved results, patients are required to get themselves examined weekly within the first month to modify doses. Furthermore, this helps in ensuring and supervising the growth of hypertension or cardiac conduction faults. Similarly, Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors are also in common use to overcome distress but led to drastic results in countless scenarios. Recent discoveries have exposed many disorders to be of a biochemical nature for which pharmacotherapy proves more effective (Conner, 2006). For instance, cocaine addiction changes the chemicals and function of the nervous system. Therefore, drugs can be prescribed to reduce the adverse impact of harmful drugs like cocaine or alcohol. Psychotherapy One of the primary methods used for curing symptoms of depression in patients so that they can again function on a normal level is Psychotherapy. This medical tool focuses on helping the patient to comprehend their situation, identify the ideal remedies to confront such circumstances, and understand their own self. It aids in conquering obstacles and should not be mistaken for typical therapy sessions (Long, 1998). The cornerstone of this technique is empathetic listening as the therapist conducts interviews with the patient in order to know them as a person, their personal history. Finally, he listens to the difficulties that hamper the normal functioning of a person and utilise all the accumulated information to heal the patient. Researches’ suggest that a person undergoing particular behaviour problems usually needs a session consisting of 16 visits as per the American Psychiatric Association (2012). Psychotherapy constitutes both medical examination as well as psychiatric tests. It tends to be focused on deliberate methodology rather than randomly diagnosing problems. Results of one of American Psychiatric Association surveys revealed that almost one out of every five adults suffers from mental disorders and needs psychotherapy annually. This treatment is as imperative as treatments for neurological depressions or disorders (Wampold, 2001). The underlying rationale of this method is that a person is capable of healing himself but he needs to be facilitated and supported by a trustworthy and encouraging psychotherapist. This field of talk therapy has significantly advanced during recent years. The therapist indicates the reasons behind the problem and recommends alternatives to counteract them in an accepting environment. A person experiences sentimental awareness and gains a better insight about his inner self that ensues in various alterations in behaviour. Ultimately, this motivates a person to live and enjoy his life to a greater extent. Surprisingly, people who do not tend to suffer from any kind of disorder might also profit from psychotherapy by finding remedies to deal with any plights like employment, a recurring disease, and the like. Psychotherapy has fundamentally six branches, namely, supportive psychotherapy, psychoanalysis, psychodynamic psychotherapy, cognitive therapy, behavioural therapy, and interpersonal therapy (Feltham, 1997). It is suited to all kinds of conditions as it offers support for endless situations such as friends, couples, families etc. Examples of Success and Failure in Psychotherapy It is an undeniable fact that disorders often result because of difficult or distressing circumstances. Therefore, it is of prime importance to undertake psychotherapy in an accepting and supportive atmosphere to tap issues that underlie mental disorders (Wampold, 2001). For instance, drugs addiction can be curtailed by using medical drugs. However, the large majority cannot get rid of an addiction on permanent basis until the underlying factors for drug abuse or usage are not addressed. To ensure that an addiction does not resurface; it is essential that a patient get rid of core turmoil in concurrence with drug usage. Psychotherapy provides the chance to identify the roots of an issue that might be negatively influencing and leading to disorders cognitively. A statistical research titled Abnormal Psychology shed light on the fact that when verbal aid or encouragement is not available, the probability of relapsing or resurfacing of disorders is much greater. On the other hand, psychotherapy is not well suited for instances of moderate distress or difficulties which can be handled through drug usage or otherwise. Advantages of Psychotherapy Psychotherapy can be equally advantageous as drug therapy. American Psychiatric Association (2012) quoted that “research shows that most patients who receive psychotherapy experience improvement.” Major factors that contribute to talk therapy are: non-response to acute treatment; the risk of committing suicide; reappearance of symptoms ; growth of novel co-morbid state; patients own decision to end the treatment; and even pregnancy. A study titled ‘Partners in Care’ conducted by RAND institute during 1996 was aimed at comparing statistics between pharmacotherapy and psychotherapy. The results were startling since they indicated that both methods ranked the same in treatment. The process of healing was more effective when these techniques were combined and especially when they were applied sequentially. Conclusion From the above comparison, we can deduce that no single treatment is best suited for all sorts of mental disorders. Each of the methods has its own pros and cons. They tend to demonstrate better and long-lasting results when integrated. For example, pharmacotherapy can be utilized for prescribing drugs for a cocaine addict. However, it is noteworthy that the underlying motivation for using drugs or such disorder originated from problematic circumstances, which can only be addressed by employing psychotherapy. Statistics support that drug usage should be accompanied with sincere emotional encouragement. Similarly, although an antidepressant medication helps neurotransmitters in the nervous system but it is quite likely that a psychological difficult triggered the changes in the neurotransmitter. Both, psychotherapy as well as pharmacotherapy are recommended for healing disorders that result due to biological reasons. It is integral to teach people to remain healthy in the face of difficulties and without over reliance on drugs. In the end, statistics and discussions affirm that both psychotherapy and drug therapy play equally critical roles for healing psychological disorders. References American Psychiatric Association. (2012). Defintion of Mental Disorder. Arlington: American Psychiatric Association. Barlow, D. (2007). Clinical Handbook of Psychological Disorders: A Step-By-Step Treatment Manual. New York: Guilford Press. Conner, M. (2006). When are antidepressants better than psychotherapy? oregon: Mentor Research Institute. Feltham, C. (1997). Which Psychotherapy. SAGE Publication. Gabbard, G. (2007). Gabbard's Treatments of Psychiatric Disorders. Arlington: American Psychiatric Publishing,Inc. Long, P. W. (1998). Major Depressive Disorder. Retrieved May 1, 2011, from Mental Health: http://www.mentalhealth.com/rx/p23-md01.html Nordqvist, C. (2009). What is Mental Health? What is Mental Disorder? Medical News Today . Wampold, B. (2001). The Great Psychotherapy Debate : Models, Methods and Findings. Mahwah: Lawrence Erlbrawn Associates. World Health Organization. (2012). Mental Disorder. World Health Organization. Read More