Doctors Must Stop Pushing Pills

As seen in the Daily Campus from the University of Connecticut

Reality should not resemble the book "Running with Scissors," where a seemingly practiced psychiatrist offers his patients the latest sample of medicine that comes in the mail. The problem of crooked or uninformed doctors is nothing new. However, more and more people in the U.S. are being prescribed medications that are unnecessary and potentially dangerous to their condition, and, thankfully, people are starting to worry. This does not only happen with illness related drugs, as mental illness medications are being more often prescribed to cover up the symptoms of a disorder without helping cure it at all. At times, these medications do not affect the disorder at all. In contrast, some medications make the disorder worse or present the patient with side effects worse than the actual disorder.

More recently, several states have begun to notice how much antipsychotic medicine is costing people and affecting their health, perhaps unnecessarily. Eli Lilly, the manufacturer of the antipsychotic drug Zyprexa, is attempting to monitor doctors' prescriptions of the drug. The New York Times reports that, "at more than $300 for a monthly prescription, Zyprexa, which is used to treat schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, is the single biggest drug cost for state Medicaid budgets." Another worry for the drug is its side effects. Zyprexa has been known to put users at greater risk for heart attacks, strokes, diabetes, high blood pressure, dizziness, etc.

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Over the past few years, there have been a growing number of patients that have died or experienced unfit side effects from badly prescribed medication. Not only have some side effects caused physical harm such as heart attack and death, but they have also created dangerous mental conditions. According to Sage Journals, a psychopharmacology journal, some patients with schizophrenia who take the anti-psychotic medication Clozapine will feel like they are entirely cured, while others may experience heightened hallucinations and psychotic episodes.

There isn't always a definite medication for a specific mental illness. Medications need to be prescribed with close psychological and bodily supervision. Too many people have had suicidal thoughts, or terrifying hallucinations, because of simply taking the wrong drug. Instead of prescribing medication for a certain disorder, doctors should obtain more specific symptoms and perhaps even wait to prescribe a specific medication until they learn more about the individual patient's condition. Additionally, doctors should obtain more evidence about a given drug and all of its side effects.

Not many people know that Prozac was originally approved to treat a heart condition. Psychiatrist Robert Post of the National Institute of Mental Health said that "research shows that antidepressants should be used the way digitalis is used for heart disease." Today, Prozac is a common anti-depressant, and isn't recommended for heart condition medication, but it may once again be suggested as a heart treatment. Because drugs may have multiple positive and negative effects, their uses must be monitored strictly.

In addition to failing to find the perfect mental illness medication for adults, doctors also struggle to find the perfect medication for children. Adults can better explain their symptoms and changes in their conditions, while children have a much harder time explaining and expressing their state and concerns. Because of this, doctors have to monitor children's prescriptions even more vigilantly than adults. In August, 2005, 12 children died from the ADHD medication known as Adderall. Studies found that five of the children had heart conditions. After that episode, heart condition was added to the label of Adderall. However, seven other children died on Adderall without explanation. This wasn't enough to take Adderall off the market because there was not enough conclusive evidence. However, since that case there have been more child deaths due to Adderall and other sedative medications. This is evidence that doctors need to look more closely into what they are prescribing.

Sadly, only some doctors take precautionary measures against careless prescribing. The majority of doctors need to prescribe medication more carefully and have more follow up appointments with their patients. This will cause the patient to spend less money on unnecessary drugs, it will help the patient's condition rather than simply masking it, and fewer people will suffer preventable side effects. In order to treat mental illness well, prescriptions must be supervised more closely.