Mental health drug ads are easy to spot and seem everywhere, whether you're watching TV, playing a video game, on social media, reading a magazine, or on the radio. Sometimes it's hard to ignore them. Depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, obsessive compulsive disorder, anxiety, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and psychotic disorders like schizophrenia and mania are now treatable with these medications.
As a culture, we value easy answers to complex problems. Marketers of psychiatric drugs would have you believe that taking their products is a simple method to deal with mental health issues. Although medication can provide fast relief, it may not treat the underlying cause of a condition and may have adverse effects. Conversely, CBT focuses on treating the underlying causes of problems and establishing long-term coping abilities. Both have advantages and disadvantages, and the choice between the two should be decided in collaboration with a mental health specialist based on the unique circumstances.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) is a therapeutic technique that aims to improve a patient's cognitive processes, behavioral responses, and emotional wellness. It is a time limited and goal-oriented therapy that teaches patients how to modify unproductive thinking and behavior habits. The ultimate goal of CBT is to give you the skills you need to deal with problems on your own and reach your goals without needing more therapy. The therapy makes use of a variety of techniques, including:
Recognizing Negative, Unhelpful Thoughts: It can be difficult to disentangle the thoughts, emotions, and circumstances that lead to negative actions. Putting in the work to figure out what these beliefs are, on the other hand, can help you learn more about yourself and give your therapist useful information for helping you heal even faster.
Learning by Doing: Putting Your New Abilities to the Test: CBT is an excellent way to learn new skills that can be immediately applied to your daily life. With CBT, a person with a substance use disorder, for instance, can exercise coping strategies and run through potential responses to social stimuli.
Goal Setting: Objectives are essential to the healing process. By working together, you and your therapist can help set short-term and long-term SMART goals and improve at setting and achieving them.
Problem-Solving: The goal of cognitive behavioral therapy is to reduce the negative effects of mental and physical disorders by teaching people how to solve problems. The procedure entails five steps: determining the issue, generating potential solutions, analyzing the benefits and drawbacks of each, selecting the best option, and putting it into practice.
Self-Monitoring: Tracking changes in your behaviors, symptoms, or perceptions over time and sharing them with your therapist is another crucial component of CBT. Your therapist can use this data to give you the best care. Self-monitoring could entail recording your eating patterns and any associated thoughts or feelings, like in the case of a person grappling with an eating disorder.
When to Consider Using CBT
CBT talk therapy is the most common evidence-based program to treat mental and physical problems. It is preferred because it can find and treat certain disorders systematically and effectively, usually with fewer therapy sessions than other options. CBT is useful for:
● Addressing the signs of most mental illnesses
● Keeping mental health symptoms from recurring
● Treat psychiatric disorders when meds are not a great alternative
● Discover coping mechanisms for stress.
● Learn how to control your emotions.
● Resolve interpersonal tensions and enhance communication abilities
● Cope with grief and loss
● Overcome traumatic abuse or violence-related injuries
● Deal with physical illness and chronic physical symptoms for conditions such as cancer
You can treat many mental health conditions with cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). Some examples are:
● PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder)
● Depression
● Insomnia and other sleep disorders
● Anxiety
● Schizophrenia
● Phobias
● Eating disorders
● OCD
● Alcohol and substance use disorders
● Bipolar disorders
● Sexual problems
Medications
Medication can be used as an alternative way to treat mental illness. Meds can ease symptoms and make other treatments, like talk therapy, work better. The ideal drug for an individual depends on their unique ailment and how their body responds. Antipsychotics, mood stabilizers, antidepressants, stimulants, anxiety relievers, and hypnotics are some types of psychiatric drugs that a doctor can recommend.
Antipsychotic drugs are often used in the managemento of schizophrenia and other forms of psychosis. Mood stabilizers aid bipolar patients in avoiding mania and depression. Antidepressants treat anxiety, depression, and other mental health conditions that affect mood. Some newer antidepressants, like SSRIs, are thought to be generally safe and are often prescribed. Stimulants are used to treat attention-deficit problems, but they can have many potential adverse effects. Anxiolytics help with anxiety and stress-related issues, but long-term use can lead to addiction. Hypnotics alleviate insomnia, but they also carry the risk of addiction.
CBT is often used together with antipsychotics and antidepressants to treat psychotic and bipolar disorders. It can also be a good replacement for milder conditions that don't involve psychosis. Everyone can find some use for cognitive behavioral therapy. It can also help children and teens get off anxiolytics. Most experts say it is a better long-term treatment for anxiety and sleep problems than psychotropic drugs and anxiolytics.
Combining the Two
Medications and talk therapies, such as cognitive behavioral therapy, are often used together when treating mental health disorders. Medication can ease your symptoms and help you feel better quickly, so you can focus on CBT without being distracted. This is particularly beneficial for people receiving addiction therapy since medication may lessen withdrawal symptoms and provide a more focused therapeutic experience. Then, CBT will build on this by giving patients the skills and information they need to prevent relapses and keep their recovery going.
The Bottom-line
One of the best things about cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) is that it helps you better understand your thoughts, feelings, and actions. Often, people who go through CBT acquire better behaviors and develop the capacity to react more positively to stressful events, both of which improve their overall well-being.
Comparative studies suggest that CBT is as successful as, if not more so than, other types of talk therapy and pharmaceutical treatments for mental health issues. It's important to remember that therapy isn't always easy, but with the help of a trained professional, you can work through the problems you face and learn to deal with hard feelings.
Helpful Resources
https://depts.washington.edu/dbpeds/therapists_guide_to_brief_cbtmanual.pdf
https://www.nhs.uk/mental-health/talking-therapies-medicine-treatm ents/talking-therapies-and-counselling/cognitive-behavioural-therapy-cbt/overview/
https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/topics/mental-health-medications
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov-pmc/articles/