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<\/a>That\u2019s because in those days it was popularly believed that there was a \u2018pill for every ill\u2019. The benzodiazepines, (Valium, Librium, etc.), were thought to be everybody\u2019s \u2018little helpers\u2019. GPs gave them out like Smarties, (or M & Ms if you come from the USA). The second generation anti-depressants, (Tricyclics or MAOIs), were pretty commonly available too. In fact, there was no shortage of mood altering medications of any kind. Got a problem? Pop a pill – problem solved!<\/p>\n <\/p>\n
From its early days, psychotherapy\u2019s more purist theorists have never been happy with pill popping They were convinced that the psychotropic drugs only masked the symptoms; they didn\u2019t fix the underlying psychological problems. That\u2019s why, back in the \u201980s and \u201990s, the usual psychotherapeutic \u2018must do\u2019 was to get patients to stop taking their psychotropic medications and to start talking to their therapists instead. That was then, it\u2019s a very different story today. These days, it\u2019s the clients who seem to be reluctant to use any form of medication, psychopharmacological or otherwise. Nowadays, the big problem is persuading our clients who really do need psychoactive drugs to actually start using them.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
It doesn\u2019t help that all too many counsellors and psychotherapists still cling to the historically \u2018right on\u2019, fundamentalist, attitude that the psychotropics are inherently \u2018bad things\u2019. Mental health should never be \u2018medicalised\u2019 they say. However, these \u2018holier than thou\u2019 purists, with their dogma driven mind-sets, are ignoring the evidence. Modern research clearly shows that the right sorts of psychoactive medication can be very helpful in the right sorts of circumstances. This doesn\u2019t mean that all our clients should be on medication \u2013 far from it. What it does mean is that sometimes some of them would benefit if an appropriate mood altering drug was part of the treatment package. Psychotherapists, just like everybody else, should never say never, especially where psychoactive medication is concerned.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Today, more and more psychotherapists and counsellors are accepting that there are occasions when some clients really do need psychopharmacological interventions. In fact, for some psychological disorders, medication is more than just helpful, it is essential. Even in cases where one of the talking therapies is usually the preferred treatment, sometimes a medication-driven \u2018emotional boost\u2019 is necessary before the patient can begin to respond to psychological therapy.\u00a0 Put simply: In some cases, no pill means no talking therapy.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
So why do all too many counsellors and psychotherapists still persist in pressuring their clients into choosing between medicine or the talking therapies? Why not offer them the best of both worlds? As an everyday practitioner, one who is very much non-purist, I often find that pills and psychotherapy in combination can be very effective. Certainly not in every case, certainly not for all my patients, but certainly for about 15-20% of my case load. Check out the advice leaflets that accompany most prescribed psychoactive medication. Most of them say something like \u2013 \u201cthis medication should be taken in conjunction with counselling or psychotherapy\u201d. For some of our clients that\u2019s good advice.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Of course, if you are going to work with patients who use psychoactive medication you need to know about the medical models of mental health. Check them out. You also need to know all about the standard psychiatric medications and how they work. My own book, \u2018Mental Health in Counselling and Psychotherapy<\/em>\u2019 would be a good place to start. You will also need to be aware of the psychological impacts of many of the commonly encountered physical disorders. For instance, did you know that there is a link between heart disease and depression? Don\u2019t forget that many routinely prescribed medications can also have mood altering side-effects. It\u2019s not difficult to find all this out. Go on-line or read some books. \u00a0If you want to know more about a specific medication, then it\u2019s a good idea to learn how to search the British National Formulary. The BNF is a mine of vital information. Again, it\u2019s all on-line.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n
Psychotherapists cannot separate themselves from the world of conventional medicine. At the very least they need to know how a patient\u2019s current medical condition, and any associated treatment or drug regimes, might impact on that patient\u2019s psychological being. There are of course many medications and many physiological conditions that need to be borne in mind when planning out a series of psychotherapeutic interventions. For example, would you know what to do if a client tells you that he or she is taking Lithium or Quetiapine? What if a client has hyperthyroidism or diabetes? Did you know that some psychotropic medications, (the antidepressant Amitriptyline for example), have their uses in non-psychological treatments? Is your client really having a panic attack or is it a heart attack? Clearly psychotherapists are not doctors, they do not have the specialist knowledge. However, they can find out, and they should find out, what medical science can tell them about their clients\u2019 needs. Obviously, the best sources of information are the patients\u2019 GPs but your local pharmacists can be very helpful too. Never forget, if all else fails, Dr Google is always on-call, 24\/7.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Finally, it\u2019s important to keep in mind that we are only psychotherapists. We are not mental health wonder-workers, (surprise, surprise!). Sometime patients present with psychological or psychiatric issues that are outside our spheres of competence. Do you know how and where to refer such patients on? How familiar are you with your local psychiatric and mental health services, both NHS and private? Do you know what to do if a client presents with some worrying physiological symptoms? If you can\u2019t confidently answer these sorts questions, then now is the time to find out how to do so. Tomorrow you might bevery \u00a0glad that you did!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
THE \u2018NO MEDICATION\u2019 MYTH Back in the day, when I first started practicing psychotherapy, most psychological therapists considered psychoactive medication to be a \u2018no-no\u2019. That\u2019s why, back then, most of us usually tried to persuade our clients not to take psychotropic drugs. However, that was never an easy thing to do. That\u2019s because in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":458,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wpm_timeformat":"","_wpm_styles":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-457","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog"],"yoast_head":"\n
BLOG POST Autumn 2016 - Norman Claringbull<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/normanclaringbull.onplexaweb.co.uk\/index.php\/2016\/09\/01\/blog-post-autumn-2016\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"BLOG POST Autumn 2016 - Norman Claringbull\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"THE \u2018NO MEDICATION\u2019 MYTH Back in the day, when I first started practicing psychotherapy, most psychological therapists considered psychoactive medication to be a \u2018no-no\u2019. That\u2019s why, back then, most of us usually tried to persuade our clients not to take psychotropic drugs. However, that was never an easy thing to do. 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<\/a>That\u2019s because in those days it was popularly believed that there was a \u2018pill for every ill\u2019. The benzodiazepines, (Valium, Librium, etc.), were thought to be everybody\u2019s \u2018little helpers\u2019. GPs gave them out like Smarties, (or M & Ms if you come from the USA). The second generation anti-depressants, (Tricyclics or MAOIs), were pretty commonly available too. In fact, there was no shortage of mood altering medications of any kind. Got a problem? Pop a pill – problem solved!<\/p>\n