Psychiatric Medications
 Psychiatric medications are powerful tools you can use to reduce symptoms and help prevent relapse. People who take medications regularly as part of their treatment are less affected by symptoms, more likely to feel well and less likely to have relapses.
When people take medications as part of their treatment, they usually:
- Experience symptoms less often or less intensely.
- Concentrate better and think more clearly.
- Fall asleep more easily and sleep more restfully.
- Accomplish more of their goals.
- Have fewer relapses.
Side Effects
Medications for mental illness, like drugs for treating other illnesses, can cause unwanted side effects. Medication affects people in different ways. Some people may have only a few side effects or no side effects at all from their medication. Others taking the same medication may have significant side effects. Your reaction to medication depends on many things, including your age, weight, sex, metabolic rate, and other medicines you might be taking.
In most cases, the side effects are temporary, and improve over time as your body adjusts to the medication. Some types of side effects, which are much less common, can be long lasting and even permanent. The newer medications tend to have fewer and less severe side effects. The more serious side effects are associated with the older antipsychotic medications, such as haldol, stelazine and thorazine.
If you are having side effects, it is important to contact your prescriber (this may be a doctor, a psychiatrist or a nurse practitioner) as soon as possible. Your prescriber needs to help you evaluate how serious the side effects are and what can be done about them. It is up to you to decide what side effects you can tolerate and what risks you are willing to accept.
Knowing more about psychiatric medications might help you in your own recovery. Let your mental health worker know if you would like to make taking medications effectively part of your mental health recovery plan.
For more information about psychiatric medications and how to take them correctly see: Medications for Psychiatric Disorders.
Links to information about psychiatric medications:
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