Move over Freud: Psychiatrists embrace pill power

This article is long overdue. In 1992 I did temp work for a group of psychiatrists. Six of them! They had only one doctor, the head of the group, who focused on medication only. The others, did both. What I noticed was the mental health hospital was relying more on therapists and social workers than psychologists or doing it themselves. Some of the patients seeing the group were in and out quickly for just medication follow ups. This happened a lot. It made me wonder how much help they were really getting.

Many years later, I went to a psychologist to deal with the stress I was under living with PTSD in the house. Medication was not mentioned. She knew I just needed someone to talk to who understood PTSD.

For my husband, he's been on medication and in therapy with the VA for a long time. Because of the newer veterans coming into receive treatment as well, there was a time when his appointments were cut back to once every three months. Even he noticed the difference and was not doing well dealing with the length of time between appointments.

For some veterans, depending on how deep their wounds have cut, they can do without medication as long as they are receiving therapy. For others, they need both. While some decide they don't want therapy at all, they are not really healing but just staying stabilized.

To just be about the medication and forget all that goes into what is wrong with the person is not the answer.

Move over Freud: Psychiatrists embrace pill power
Mon Aug 4, 2008 4:17pm EDT

By Julie Steenhuysen

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Psychiatrists in the United States are trading in the analysis couch for a prescription pad, according to a study released on Monday that found fewer psychiatrists offer psychotherapy.

The shift to briefer visits for medication management, reported in the Archives of General Psychiatry, appears to be linked to better psychiatric drugs and pressure from managed care companies, which offer richer financial incentives for brief office visits.

"Psychiatrists get more for three, 15-minute medication management visits than for one 45 minute psychotherapy visit," said Dr. Ramin Mojtabai of Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore and formerly of Beth Israel Medical Center in New York, where he did the research.

Various forms of psychotherapy, either alone or in combination with medications, are recommended to treat depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, bipolar disorder and other psychiatric illnesses.
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http://www.reuters.com/article/healthNews/idUSN0444133020080804