Counseling: Psychotropic Drugs Flashcards
Psychotropic drugs
mind-altering drugs
Medical diagnosis
Diagnosis made on upon identifiable pathology:
eg. )
- physical exam
- blood work
- Xray
- thyroid levels
- electrolyte levels
- scan
True or false: The pet scans done on OCD patients showed abnormalities in their brains, so this means that OCD is a neurological problem, and therefore needs to be treated biologically?
False
correlation is not causation
The same patients underwent extensive CBT counseling after which subsequent scans showed their brains to be normal, therefore it is more likely that our brains are influenced by our thoughts, feelings and behavior.
Psychological diagnosis
not based on identifiable pathology
based on patients current patterns of thoughts, feelings, and behavior, either reported or observed
DSM
Diagnostics and statistics manual
Contains a list of behaviors that are grouped into categories of mental disorders
the DSM does not diagnose mental illness, but rather is used to describe mental disorders
It does not say Why a person is doing any of the things they are doing, but simply describes WHAT they are doing.
The DSM does not give the Cause of a disorder and does not offer a solution to the disorder
It does however rely on the medical model, meaning it presumes a biological organic cause for mental disorders, and there assumes that the treatment should be through medical drugs
The material, or medical view of mental disorders
That thoughts, feelings and behaviour is the result of brain (electro/chemical) activity, and genetic inheritance
Mood problems is seen as a brain malfunction
The problem with this view is that in makes the person subject to their emotions and not responsible for them, as feelings or moods are produced by chemicals in the brain and therefore happens to a person, not by them. The person becomes a victim of their feelings rather than an active player in them.
This view promotes and researches chemical fixes for emotional health.
Can behaviour be affected by physical illnesses?
Yes, essentially anything that affects the neuroendocrine system
Anemia thyroid problems electrolyte imbalances infections tumors Parkinson's, dementia Stroke
But even though it can influence behaviour it does not cause behaviour and is therefore not the cause of sin
The disease is not an excuse for sin
What happens when they can find a medical cause for a person’s psychological behavior?
Then it becomes a medical condition, not a psychological one.
Chemical imbalance theory
It is abnormal neurotransmitter activity or level at the synapse that causes a mental disorder
The problem with this theory is that it is not possible to measure the level of neurotransmitters at the synapse
According to researcher Irving Kirsch et al, it is not supported by the data and has never been demonstrated as fact
NiMH is moving away from investing in medication research towards CBT.
Do anti-depressants work?
Clinical studies have found that true drug effects were nonexistent to negligible among depressed patients with mild, moderate, and eve sever baseline symptoms (JAMA, 303:1 January 6, 2010)
In these studies (JAMA 2002), Antidepressants (Zoloft) did not outperform placebo
- SSRI (Zoloft) cured 25%
- st Johns wort 24%
- placebo 36%
In the biggest such trials ever conducted, the STAR-D trial (not sponsored by industry), with more than 4000 participants testing multiple SSRIs and a combination of drugs, the result were the same, SSRI’s did not outperform placebo.
An NIMH study of Unmedicated Depression, tracking one-year recovery rates, showed that after a year 85% of unmedicated patients recovered, which is far better than the recovery rates of medicated patients (less than 20%), this tends to show that the majority of depression cases are “temporary”, and people can recover without drugs.
The implication here is that in the cases where antidepressant drugs do seem to work, it is more likely due to a placebo effect and the passage of time, rather than the actual drug itself.
Do antipsychotic drugs work?
According to Lex Wunderink, MD, PhD, Psychiatrist, Netherlands, in JAMA Psychiatry, 2013
In the long term, many diagnosed with psychosis actually do better without antipsychotic drugs
Low dose or cessation of drugs had higher recovery rates than those on regular dose of antipsychotics
discontinuation syndrome
When a person is chronically exposed to pharmaceutical drugs, the body makes some adaptations to accommodate the drug. And so when a patient discontinues the drug, they may suffer symptoms as a result of the discontinuation, as the body struggles to adjust back to its previous baseline
These symptoms are then often used by physicians as proof that the patient does needs the medication, and can’t live without it.
Do antidepressants work from a biblical perspective?
from the biblical perspective, the goal of life is to glorify God and to grow in progressive sanctification, (become more Christlike)
So do psychotropic drugs help people grow in the way that God desires people to change?
Do anti-depressants that suppresses a persons emotional struggles chemically help them deal with the heart issues that they need to deal with in order to grow in Christ, and to show more of the fruit of the spirit.
Are the drugs helping them deal with the heart issues, or is it simply suppressing the outward manifestations of those heart issues?
The answer to these questions is NO, these drugs don’t help people grow in Christ.
John 17:17 says we are sanctified by the word of God, not by psychotropic drugs
Tack analogy
if you sit on a thumb tack it hurts
paracetamol, or ibuprofen, even oxycodone might help with the symptoms of pain
if you leave it in for long enough antibiotics might help deal with the infection
But what is the real answer?
To remove the tack
The answer to depression is to find and deal with the root cause. From a biblical perspective the root cause is more than likely a heart issue.
Are medications “gospel blockers”
No, you can still bring the word of God to someone on psychotropic drugs
