It’s time to reduce the stigma around psychotropic meds

Wwareness of mental health issues has grown to the point that almost everyone can diagnose themselves, their spouse, their kids, and their extended circle of friends and relatives with something. Whereas people were once just “neurotic,” “eccentric,” or “difficult,” they’re now on the spectrum, or have bipolar, ADHD, or anxiety. They — and we — have something identified and codified by experts who study such things. And as a result, we can get treatment.

Diagnosis and Treatment

Indeed, the whole point of diagnosis is to identify the source of our difficulties. When a teenager lacks motivation, we want to know what’s wrong and what to do about it. When we find ourselves panicking while driving a car, we want to know why and how to make it stop! There are all kinds of mental health symptoms that normal people have, much the same way that normal people can have headaches and stomachaches. Having physical and emotional symptoms is just part of being human.

Nowadays, people who have uncomfortable symptoms reach out to psychotherapists and psychologists for relief. In the “olden days,” people thought that going to a mental health professional meant you were “crazy.” They would avoid getting help for themselves and their children in order to avoid the stigma of mental illness.

Fortunately, we now know that normal, high-functioning people can have mental health issues without being mentally ill. Mental illness of the kind that causes severe dysfunction and disability is, fortunately, extremely rare and isn’t primarily addressed by therapy, but rather by medical interventions.

And herein lies the rub.

While psychotropic medicines are used to treat serious mental illness such as episodes of major depressive disorder or psychosis, they’re also often used in conjunction with therapy to treat more everyday issues such as low mood, anxiety, ADHD, OCD, and many other problems that affect otherwise high-functioning, healthy people. Many of your perfectly normal friends and neighbors are using psychotropic medicines to help them sleep, cope with fear of flying, calm their overactive mind, focus better, lift their mood, cope with crisis, and so on.

Just as seeing a counselor doesn’t make people “crazy,” neither does taking psychotropic medication. It’s time we recognize that these medicines are simply another gift from Hashem, tools in our emotional toolkit to help us feel and perform our best.

Dealing with Mental Health Symptoms

Here are some examples of the diagnosis/treatment process:

Case #1: My 12-year-old daughter was developing behavioral compulsions. I could see how many times she washed her hands and how many minutes she stayed in the shower every night. She couldn’t cut back even when I asked her to. Eventually I took her to a psychologist who diagnosed her with a mild case of OCD and gave her information and strategies that enabled her to completely overcome her symptoms (a successful use of CBT to resolve symptoms).

Case #2: I was in my last year of medical school, and although I had top grades, I was very stressed. It came to the point where I was having trouble sleeping and was worrying all the time. My doctor prescribed some medicine for anxiety, and it helped me tremendously. I finished the year successfully AND happily (a successful use of psychotropic medication to resolve symptoms).

Case #3: My 21-year-old daughter, Dana, started having panic attacks. The therapist told us that she was too anxious to do the therapy. She recommended that we take her for a medical consultation to address that anxiety, but we declined. Dana is of dating age. We don’t want her to have trouble getting a shidduch (no treatment, no resolution of symptoms).

In Case #3, no help is provided and symptoms persist. Dana’s parents know their daughter is perfectly normal even though she’s experiencing panic attacks, but they realize that others will assume she has a “serious problem” if they learn she’s been taking psychotropic medication — what a tragedy.

The term “mental illness” needs to be reserved for those conditions that produce incapacitating illness. When people are able to carry on with their regular lives and responsibilities despite their symptoms, they’re not “ill.” Similarly, a person who is prone to occasional headaches isn’t “ill,” and taking Tylenol shouldn’t be misinterpreted as a sign that the headache sufferer is seriously sick.

We’ve figured out that taking advantage of psychotherapy is good for us. Now let’s recognize that utilizing medication is beneficial, too, and reject false notions of mental health and illness.

(Originally featured in Family First, Issue 847)