When the drugs don’t work

Article

Harper, D. 2002. When the drugs don’t work. Open Mind. 114, p. 8.
AuthorsHarper, D.
Abstract

It is clear that medication for mental health difficulties does not produce anything like a cure.1 Taking medication is no guarantee that one will never relapse or experience a symptom again. This poses a problem for the over optimism of some biological psychiatrists. I became interested in responses to this problem during some research2 in which I interviewed users of psychiatric services, GPs, psychiatrists and CPNs. Throughout these interviews I encountered the same common explanations for why medication hadn't worked: the patient is a non-responder; is chronic; is on too low/high a dose; is on the wrong drug/too many different kinds of drugs; has not been compliant with their medication; has been wrongly diagnosed; some of the patient's problems are due to manipulative behaviour; there are odd exceptions.

Keywordsmedication; mental health; psychiatric services; schizophrenia; symptoms
JournalOpen Mind
Journal citation114, p. 8
Year2002
Accepted author manuscript
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CC BY-ND
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Anyone
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Print2002
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Deposited22 Feb 2011
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Harper, D.J. (2002) ‘When the drugs don’t work’. Open Mind, 114, pp.8.

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