Prior to beginning work on this discussion, read the required chapters from the text and review the required articles for this week. Over the course of the past weeks, we have considered the use of medications in the treatment of various psychological disorders. This discussion will provide you with an opportunity to give an informed appraisal on the use of drugs to treat disorders and defend your stance based on your judgment of the literature. In your initial post, describe what you believe are the greatest strengths and weaknesses of using the medications to treat psychological disorders. Evaluate the employment of psychoactive drugs in the treatment of disorders over the lifespan from both an ethical and risk-benefits perspective. Summarize the theories of psychiatric disease and the scientific rationale behind its treatment through the employment of drug therapies. Explain what you believe to be the greatest challenges in the use of psychoactive medications over the next several years. Support your statements with references and logical arguments.
This is the discussion question:
Prior to beginning work on this discussion, read the required chapters from the text and
review the required articles for this week. Over the course of the past weeks, we have
considered the use of medications in the treatment of various psychological disorders. This
discussion will provide you with an opportunity to give an informed appraisal on the use of
drugs to treat disorders and defend your stance based on your judgment of the literature. In
your initial post, describe what you believe are the greatest strengths and weaknesses of
using the medications to treat psychological disorders. Evaluate the employment of
psychoactive drugs in the treatment of disorders over the lifespan from both an ethical and
risk-benefits perspective. Summarize the theories of psychiatric disease and the scientific
rationale behind its treatment through the employment of drug therapies. Explain what you
believe to be the greatest challenges in the use of psychoactive medications over the next
several years. Support your statements with references and logical arguments.
Guided Response: Review several of your colleagues’ posts and respond to at least two of
your peers by 11:59 p.m. on Day 7 of the week. You are encouraged to post your required
replies earlier in the week to promote more meaningful interactive discourse in this
discussion. Evaluate and describe the quality of your colleague’s argument. How did they use
the literature to support the statements made? Do you agree with the argument and your
colleague’s choice of the greatest challenges? Why, or why not? Did your colleague provide
convincing data for this position? What insights did your colleague include that you had not
considered? What might you suggest your colleague consider which was not included? Please
use your research to support your assertions.
What I need done is responses to two classmates.
Student one:
Candice Welsh
The use of drugs for psychiatric disease is for better than bad in my opinion. Although there
are side effects, there is also relief in getting the right type of medication. The strengths
outweigh the weaknesses. For example, take a child that has been diagnosed with
Oppositional Defiant Disorder or ODD for short. Although the causes of this disease are not
completely known (some suspect genetics and environment play a big part), it can be
extremely difficult to help a child who has so much anger and spite/vindictiveness expressed.
According to the Mayo Clinic (2023) website, if ODD is not addressed and treated, the child
could go onto have legal issues, be at a higher risk of suicide, have poor social skills, and
begin substance abuse. Some of the times that ODD is diagnosed, another psychiatric disease
is present like ADHD or OCD. There is not a specific medication prescribed for ODD but if
the child shows symptoms similar to say ADHD, they could take a medication such as Ritalin
to modify the chemicals, dopamine and norepinephrine which help with control and
attention issues. Seok et al (2023) conducted a systematic review of papers that show how
different psychoactive medications affected children (or youth) who have been diagnosed
with some type of disruptive behavior (DB). The research key words yielded 1,678 papers but
all but 55 were excluded because of the inability to extract data. Of the 55 papers, a total of
5,684 patients were discussed. 15 medications were discussed as well. They included one
stimulant (NDRI) methylphenidate; one non-stimulant ADHD medication (SNRI)
atomoxetine; three second-generation antipsychotics (SDA) risperidone, olanzapine, and
quetiapine; one dopamine receptor modulator (DRA) aripiprazole; two SSRIs- sertraline and
fuoxetine; three anticonvulsants (GRA): valproate sodium, divalproex, and carbamazepine;
two TCAs (SNRI)- desipramine and imipramine; and one SNDRI- dasotraline lithium. These
papers showed the SDAs, NDRI, and SNRI were “more efficacious” than placebos at reducing
DB with the SDAs taking the lead (Seok et al, 2023). By modifying the chemicals in the brain
with these medications, the child who was once defiant is able to change their behavior.
Another example is in treating people with behavioral addictions like gambling and a
shopping addiction. Pharmacological intervention can be medications like Naltrexone
because it helps to reduce the cravings of the behaviors or antidepressants because depression
usually has a high comorbidity with these types of addictions (Driscoll, 2022). Some people
think that alternative medicines will help, and I agree to an extent. It all depends on the
severity of the disease. In my own personal experience, I tried to battle my depression and
anxiety for years by pretending it did not exist until I had a nervous breakdown which was
triggered by a divorce. When I hit what they call “rock bottom” and I could not crawl my
way back up, medication helped me. Is it a simple cure? Of course not. I still struggle every
day with my psychiatric state, but the medication has made a huge difference in my life.
References
Driscoll, S. M. (2022). Treatment for Behavioral Addictions. Salem Press Encyclopedia of
Health.
Mayo Clinic (2023). Retrieved from www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/oppositionaldefiant-disorder/symptoms-causesLinks to an external site.
Seok, J.-W., Soltis-Vaughan, B., Lew, B. J., Ahmad, A., Blair, R. J. R., & Hwang, S. (2023).
Psychopharmacological treatment of disruptive behavior in youths: systematic review and
network meta-analysis. Scientific Reports, 13(1), 1–16. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-02333979-2Links to an external site.
Student Two:
Brandee Forster
I believe that using psychoactive drugs in treatment of psychological disorders benefits more
than risks in most cases. Yes, it may take a while to find a drug that works well with a
specific patient but the benefits of the drug working in many disorders outweigh the risks of
mild side effects. If we take a look at antidepressants, these are mainly prescribed for major
depressive disorders, though they can be used in many other disorders as well. These drugs
have been prescribed for depression, anxiety, bipolar, pain, obsessive compulsive disorder,
bulimia, PTSD, and panic disorder (Cascade et. al., 2007; NHS, 2021). Antidepressant drugs
include Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors (SSRIs), Serotonin/Norepinephrine
Reuptake inhibitors (SNRIs), Atypical Antidepressants, Serotonin Modulators, Tricyclic
Antidepressants (TCAs), Monoamine Oxidase Inhibitors (MAOIs), and NMDA Antagonists.
These drugs work slightly differently depending on which is taken but they all target certain
neurotransmitters to modulate mood and behavior, increase serotonin, norepinephrine, or
both in the synapse, and target reuptake by the nerve terminals (Sheffler et. al., 2023). Over
the lifespan antidepressant drugs can be utilized and successful for these disorders and
because there are various formulas, however there are some long-term adverse effects that
can happen. A study on patients of long-term antidepressant medications asked their
perspective on effects of the drug and the most common effects included, withdrawal effects,
sexual problems, weight gain, as well as feelings of numb emotions, and addicted were also
stated. Even with these effects of long-term use 89.4% of people in the study stated that
antidepressants had improved their depression (Cartwright et. al., 2016). This shows that the
risks of possible long-term effects still outweigh the benefits of treatment on the drug. There
are other non-pharmaceutical therapy options for depression as well, like talk-therapy,
however depending on the severity of the diagnosis medication may be the way to get the
best relief from symptoms. I believe that ethically it is the diagnosing and treatment
physician’s to inform the patient of their options, answer any questions, and monitor patients
through the entire process of medication trials and long term uses.
Cartwright, C., Gibson, K., Read, J., Cowan, O., & Dehar, T. (2016). Long-term
antidepressant use: patient perspectives of benefits and adverse effects. Patient preference
and adherence, 10, 1401–1407. https://doi.org/10.2147/PPA.S110632Links to an external site.
Cascade, E. F., Kalali, A. H., & Thase, M. E. (2007). Use of antidepressants: expansion beyond
depression and anxiety. Psychiatry (Edgmont (Pa. : Township)), 4(12), 25–28.
NHS. (2021, November 2). Uses-Antidepressants. NHS. https://www.nhs.uk/mentalhealth/talking-therapies-medicine-treatments/medicines-andpsychiatry/antidepressants/uses/Links to an external site.
Sheffler ZM, Patel P, Abdijadid S. Antidepressants. [Updated 2023 Mar 1]. In: StatPearls
[Internet]. Treasure Island (FL): StatPearls Publishing; 2023 Jan-. Available
from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK538182/Links to an external site.
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