Do I need medications to get or feel better?
What if how I’m feeling is all circumstantial?
Will it get better on its own?
What if I can’t feel happy again without medication?
These are some of the most common concerns and questions we hear as psychiatrists, and as someone who was raised in a “stiff upper lip” household, I can appreciate the feelings that lie behind these thoughts. We often speak with people once they’ve tried everything that they can think of to feel better without the effect they had anticipated. This can leave medication as a tool of last resort for many which can complicate an already tricky viewpoint of medications.
When someone suffers from depression and anxiety, they can often find it much more difficult to engage in the healthy habits which kept them well. We may isolate ourselves, lack the energy or motivation, have non-restful sleep, and even have habits outside our norm. In this state, just the thought of some of our previous positive habits such as exercise, socialization, and even basic biological functions like sleeping or eating can feel insurmountable. Here, we can think of medications as another tool to use analogous to these skills.
When we are unable to engage in the activities we know will benefit us, medications can often provide support. These can help exercise, socializing, and even sleep feel less and less impossible. As we increase our time spent in positive coping skills over weeks and months, these often take over as our primary method to get better and maintain our mood. This can make the dose of medication we started on more than we need in the long term or even redundant in the future.
As a strong believer in holistic treatment, I believe there are multiple ways to feel better. While the ultimate choice of whether to take medications is up to someone’s circumstances and preferences, at Brightland Health, I encourage all of us to consider medications as another tool in our toolbelt, rather than a method of last resort.