WHAT IS THE BEST RESOURCE FOR YOUR PSYCH MEDS? Part II

REFERRING CLIENTS

Clinicians’ questions can help determine the necessity of referring clients to a psychiatrist. Perhaps the prescription given by their doctor is adequate to help clients obtain relief from their symptoms and engage fully in therapy. 

Even though the present mental healthcare system that assigns two professionals to clients with depressive disorders presents some disadvantages, the majority of depressed clients will have both a psychiatrist and a therapist to help them recover. Nevertheless, to avoid unnecessary referrals therapists need to use good judgment when referring clients to psychiatrists. By taking care in referring, therapists can save time, effort, and frustration on the part of both mental health professionals and clients.

Therapists also need to determine if clients’ doctors asked the right questions and gave adequate information. Questions regarding clients’ use of herbs or other drugs can help therapists determine if the SSRI will create the possibility for synergism, inhibit the effectiveness of the drug, or create other serious complications. 

For example, use of St. John's Wort concurrent with SSRIs can cause serotonin syndrome and hypomania. Therefore, clinicians need to ask clients if they are using illicit drugs or alcohol because use of these substances may cause negative interactions. Even the use of over-the-counter drugs may cause secondary depression.

Clearly, clients need to be educated about the possible risks associated with substance use and abuse. If therapists help clients achieve a basic understanding of neurochemicals involved in brain function and the impact of SSRIs in creating inhibitory responses between neurotransmitters, they may also be able to better motivate clients to use appropriate drugs appropriately.

Finally, bibliotherapy can be a valuable resource to help clients understand the drug and depression connection. Therapists can help their clients by asking if they want further sources of information in books and websites that can be beneficial. 

Rather than providing information found in textbooks, books like “Listening to Prozac” by Peter D. Kramer or websites like www.mentalhealth.com, www.depression.com, or www.pharminfo.com are understandable to the layperson, can answer many questions, and even provide other web links. 

The best-selling author of Listening to Prozac examines depression from a historical and scientific perspective, challenging cultural beliefs that depression is a noble or romantic disorder linked to soulful or creative achievements, and calling for a greater awareness of depression's devastating impact, as well as renewed efforts to provide curative treatments.

  http://www.npr.org/books/titles/138418964/against-depression]

If clients continue to be troubled about taking SSRIs, therapists can explain other options to control their serotonin levels such as the use of herbs and certain foods to enhance serotonin levels.

Especially for clients who believe in natural methods of dealing with their health issues, or clients who are reluctant to take or continue their SSRIs, introducing them to books such as, “The Prozac Alternative” by Ran Knishinsky or “Dealing with Depression Naturally” by Syd Baumel, can help both therapists and clients understand that the road to recovery does not only depend on the use of pharmaceutical antidepressants.

(Continued)

SEE POSTS:  WHAT IS THE BEST RESOURCE FOR YOUR PSYCH MEDS?  Parts I and III

IS THERE A LINK BETWEEN CREATIVITY AND MENTAL ILLNESS 5

(PLEASE NOTE THAT THIS IS THE LAST IN A 5 PART SERIES.  I ENCOURAGE YOU START FROM THE BEGINNING...)

Questions for Further Exploration

If creativity implies deviation from norms, what is the nature of the reciprocal relationship between the behaviors of creative people and the reactions of society? How can the connection between creativity and mental illness be explained? Is it caused by neural pathways in the brain which affect both creative and mental functioning? What is the effect of hormonal imbalance on creativity? What is the effect of family systems on creativity and creative potential?

Several researchers describe the effect of gender identification and androgyny on creativity, stating that androgynous individuals have a higher tendency to be creative than traditionally male or female models. Are women really generally more creative than men? Has androgyny and creativity been researched and measured? If the foregoing is true, in what way are men and women creatively different? Are more creative women generally more susceptible to mental illness than men?

Crow (1997) suggests that perhaps mental illness is the price we pay for our complex brain functioning which, in turn, fosters creativity. If evolutionary development is responsible for humans to slip from creativity into mental illness, what is the mechanism responsible for this phenomenon? Can it be managed or turned off? And, if so, how? Why and when would we want to tone down creativity in favor of better mental health? Whose choice should it be? If there truly is a connection between creativity and mental illness, what kinds of mental illness have the highest connection with creativity?

When considering creativity in a biological, genetic sense, what is the role drugs/medication can play in managing mental illness in creative people? Do medications dull creative impulses, as many artists claim? Do drugs and alcohol enhance creativity, as many artists claim?

Conclusion

Undeniably, the comparison of creativity with madness has a long history. Perhaps, like myths, some truth in this belief exists. Despite research flaws, repeated connections between mental disorders and creative people are drawn and are difficult to ignore.

Creativity has been prized throughout history, though not always rewarded and cultivated. As with any issue in mental health, the issue of creativity is also extremely complex. Clear, broad, and universal definitions are needed to measure creativity in order to help determine the link between mental illness and creative individuals.

Counselors need to carefully assess all possible factors surrounding the life of highly creative clients and nurture their creativity to help them navigate an intricate and complicated world. The oxymoron in this suggestion is that, in treating creative clients, the nature of therapy encourages the client to look inward. However, as proposed in the Verhaeghen et al. study on rumination, it appears that in examining life too closely, clients and therapists may unwittingly be fostering depression and other mental illnesses. At any rate, addressing the issues of creative people certainly suggests that, in order for therapists to be highly effective much may be required of them. They need to be well trained in psychology, have wide creative interests, draw upon their own abilities for Janusian thought and ambiguity, and, especially, to be creative in their own therapeutic approach with clients, if they hope to make a positive difference in the lives of mentally ill creative people.

For impressive lists of bi-polar and uni-polar depressives visit:  http://www.pendulum.org/information/information_famous.html

BELOW ARE PICTURES OF PEOPLE WHO HAVE BEEN DIAGNOSED WITH BI-POLAR DISORDER
***

 VIVIEN LEIGH

ABBIE HOFFMAN

 EDGAR ALLEN

GENE TIERNEY

BEETHOVEN

MEL GIBSON

OZZIE OSBOURNE

RICHARD DREYFUSS

TRACY ULLMAN