“A little learning is a dangerous thing.”
– Alexander Pope
In South Asian households, it is a commonly held belief that psychiatrists are nothing but eccentrics, which is why many people do not go for psychiatric medication treatment for mental illnesses. It is a common notion of such communities that psychiatric medications can only make a person’s condition worse.
This is mostly a result of inadequate and inaccurate information regarding the subject. Such inaccurate information is circulated in our communities and is fueled by a regressive mindset, staunch cultural beliefs, exaggeration of information, and much more.
Psychiatric medication or psychotropic drugs are used to chemically change the makeup of the brain to the desired extent. Psychotropic medications have proven to be effective for the majority of the people, yet there are a staggering number of myths surrounding the topic.
Whenever someone mentions pills prescribed by a “quack”, everyone in the room draws a breath and a myriad of incorrect notions and stereotypes crowd in the minds of the people present. Only a limited number of Pakistanis accept that they have a mental illness, however, most of them say that they feel that they do not need psychotropic drug treatment.
Perhaps, the notion that moves them away from getting psychiatric consultation and treatment is that there is a taboo towards this approach as most people consider psychiatric medication to be “drugs that they will get addicted to for the rest of their lives.”
There is an excess of myths that surround psychiatric medication and a few of them are mentioned below.
Addictive Medications
As we mentioned above, psychotropic medications are thought to be addictive by a considerable number of people all around the globe. The fear is that once the treatment starts, dependency will be formed on the medications and if one stops them suddenly, they will feel symptoms of withdrawal.
In a tweet, a Pakistani mentioned one of the myths that they have heard about psychotropic medications:
The fact of the matter is that most psychiatric drugs are not addictive at all nor do they create dependency. However, it is advised to never stop the treatment abruptly on your own. If the medications are stopped abruptly, the individual runs the risk of encountering several side effects.
Feeling like a Zombie
Many people do not even go for a psychiatric consultation because they fear that they will end up “losing themselves” or “feel like a zombie”. Many think that they will become completely dissociated from themselves and their surroundings. Many people loudly and publicly further this myth like Kanye West did in a tweet, ‘6 months off meds I can feel me again’.
This myth is also found in Pakistani society as shown in this particular tweet:
The reality is that psychotropic drugs are used to balance out any of the heightened and disrupting symptoms that the individual might be experiencing, depending upon the mental disorder. They help manage the symptoms but do not cause dissociation.
Kills Creativity
Artists of all kinds often run away from a psychiatric treatment that involves medications, but why is that? In 2017, Kanye West, tweeted that “I cannot be on meds and make watch the throne level or dark fantasy level music.” This is one common notion amongst artists: their creative neurons will not fire if they take medications prescribed by a psychiatrist.
Philip Muskin, a Columbia University psychiatry professor and the secretary of the American Psychiatric Association, debunked this myth when he said, “Creative people are not creative when they’re depressed, or so manic that no one can tolerate being with them and they start to merge into psychosis, or when they’re filled with numbing anxiety.”
Many individuals believe that they will start feeling better as soon as they ingest the pill. In their minds, these medications work like painkillers, etc. This notion might stem from the fact that sleeping pills tend to work fast.
Unfortunately, psychotropic medications do not work like that. Approximately, it takes around 6 to 8 weeks for a psychotropic drug to start taking its effect so much so that it can be observed and felt by the patient. Despite the seemingly long period, it should be noted that if the drugs complement the client, they tend to work wonders.
The Comparison Problem
Friends of people who undergo psychiatric medication treatment often read too much into it in the sense that they believe that they would have the same effect as others. If they observe that there is no progress then they hold the view that the same thing would happen to them.
Psychotropic drug treatment is tailored to each client’s case and needs which means that it would not exactly work the same way for another person. It needs to be understood that accepting the same progress as another person is completely illogical.
In Pakistan, this myth is perpetuated enough:
Myths might seem harmless enough but the truth is that they are detrimental. Many of the above myths are the reasons that people do not consider going for a psychiatric evaluation. Individuals with attention-worthy mental illnesses actively avoid psychotropic drug treatment because they believe in such myths. This leaves a lot of individuals with no medical care and results in deteriorating mental health conditions which ultimately affect their whole lives. Moreover, it creates such a strong cultural stigma that it prevents people from seeking psychiatric medication treatment (currently and in the future).
Psychiatrists are portrayed in a bad light, even though they are one of the most important mental health professionals in the world. When people rely on stereotypes and are biased, they tend to avoid psychiatrists which of course furthers an already growing skepticism of the effectiveness of mental health care.
The only way to get rid of myths is to spread awareness about psychiatric medications in all communities and promote the benefits that one can attain if they undergo treatment.
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