Assignment on Psychotropic Prescribed Drugs

ALL IN THE MIND: CAN PSYCHOTROPIC DRUGS EVER MAKE USEFUL MEDICINES
Name of Student
Subject Name
Date

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ALL IN THE MIND: CAN PSYCHOTROPIC DRUGS EVER MAKE USEFUL MEDICINES
Background Information
Psychotropic drugs are drugs that interfere or rather affect the central nervous system
causing alteration of how the brain functions hence long-term our thoughts, emotions, behaviors,
and perceptions1. Most psychotropic drugs are prescribed by therapists to treat mental illness for
example; bipolar disorder also known as manic-depressive disorder. Apart from medically
prescribed Psychotropic drugs, there are other illicit psychotropic drugs such as marijuana and
cocaine2. Psychotropic prescribed drugs are usually taken by the patient to help them in
improving and stabilizing their mental conditions3. These drugs were introduced for the purpose
of treating mental illness or bipolar which affected the brain and hence changed one's emotions, a
behavior thought and perception. There are four main psychotropic drug groups: antipsychotics,
ant anxiety agents, mood stabilizers, and antidepressants. Research shows that patients who have
been under psychotropic drugs prescription showed more recovery than patients who have not
visited the health care to receive treatment or prescription4. Different people react differently to
drugs, there are people who are quick to respond and others whose body takes time before it
responds. These drugs need the patients to be patient and to go through the therapy sessions, this
1 Paul J, Perry. 2006. Psychotropic drug handbook. Philadelphia, Pa: Lippincott Williams &
Wilkins.
2 American Psychiatric Association 2000. Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders, (DSM-
IV-TR). Washington, DC.
3 Samuel A, Ball. "Personality traits, problems, and disorders: Clinical applications to substance use
disorders." Journal of Research in Personality 39, no. 1 (2005): 84-102.
4 James B., Hittner and Swickert, Rhonda. "Sensation seeking and alcohol use: A meta-analytic
review." Addictive behaviors 31, no. 8 (2006): 1383-1401.

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is because the psychotropic drugs do not provide instant solutions, they assist the patient to
control their conditions and if combined together with therapy then there is a definite long time
recovery5.
Psychotropic drugs are being used by many people for different reasons and it’s
important that before using these drugs, the patient must be examined by a doctor or a medical
practitioner to know the type of psychotropic drug to prescribe for the patient6. This is because
the patient may be having other conditions such as high blood pressure, diabetes and heart
conditions among others and this will require a different prescription that will not aggravate the
preexisting conditions. Psychotropic drugs are good but they also have negative effects on the
user, and this always happens when there is an under dose or an overdose by the patient. The
world today has settled their minds on psychotropic drugs as being the solution to their
immediate problems7. Marijuana and cocaine are the most abused psychotropic illicit drugs.
These drugs have been used by different people of the different age group for different purposes.
These drugs are equally dangerous with bad side effects, in turn, they have caused a lot of
accidents and even deaths. These drugs alter the thoughts, perceptions, emotions, and moods and
some users say they feel contented, relaxed, after abusing these drugs and this leads to addiction
which may lead to a long time negative effects to the primary and the secondary user8. It is
5 Olivier, Desrichard T, and Denarié, Virginie. "Sensation seeking and negative affectivity as
predictors of risky behaviors: A distinction between occasional versus frequent risk-
taking." Addictive Behaviors 30 (2005): 1449-1453.
6 Ric M., Procyshyn, Bezchlibnyk-Butler, Kalyna Z. and Jeffries, J. Joel 2017. Clinical handbook
of psychotropic drugs. [Place of publication not identified]: Hogrefe.
7 Florian, Seemüller, Möller, Hans-Jürgen, Dittmann, Sandra and Musil, Richard. "Is the
efficacy of psychopharmacological drugs comparable to the efficacy of general medicine
medication?." BMC medicine 10, no. 1 (2012): 17.
8 Franklin G, Miller. 2013. The placebo: a reader. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.

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important to address this topic because of the rate at which the psychotropic drugs are being
abused is alarming and the long-term side effect of these drugs are serious and have affected
many of its users and even caused deaths. The patients who have the psychotropic prescriptions
are at high risk of the long-term negative effect which may affect their lives after withdrawing
from the use of these drugs9.
Major Themes
 Psychotropic drug use and abuse (prescribed psychotropic drugs)
Psychotropic drugs have been used throughout the past years for different reasons. These
drugs have been of benefit to some of the patients and it has greatly helped them to stabilize and
control their mental health conditions. Mental illness condition or rather bipolar disorder does
not affect only a given age group for but it affects any age group. Not all patients with bipolar
disorder need medication, some just need therapy to help them in improving their mental health
and to understand how to manage their conditions without the use of psychotropic drugs10. But
on the other hand, there are those whose conditions need the use of psychotropic drugs to help
them boost their moods, emotions, and perceptions. These group of patients can have a relatively
hard time if they do not get the drugs because they believe that without the drugs they cannot
function or be active as expected of them. There are psychotropic drugs like antidepressants
which help patients who are having depression. This group of patients needs antidepressant drugs
the help stabilize their level of depression and improve their overall mental and physical health
9 Jogin H., Thakore and B. E. Leonard. 2009. Metabolic effects of psychotropic drugs. Basel:
Karger.
10 John M., Kane and Lieberman, Jeffrey A. 1992. Adverse effects of psychotropic drugs. New
York: Guilford Press.