A society filled with more mental illness diagnoses each day, which therefore has become one of “pill poppers” and medication fiends. Highly addictive medication, even medication such as LSD, has become the new norm in a community full of people who are already psychologically struggling (“LSD to Cure Depression?”). Modern medicine is constantly moving forward and with that comes the discovery of new diseases and ways to cure, or even prevent such from flaring up repeatedly Mental illness, itself, has increased severely over the years, therefore similarly to other newly discovered diseases and illnesses, medication options have widened and become more of an issue than a solution. Because of this more recent surge in consistently medicating people there is less and less of a pull or need for latter therapeutic options for those patients who struggle with mental illnesses. This surge in mental illness diagnoses has caused such to be discovered in younger children, therefore medication has become a busy, hardworking, “keeping up with the Jonses’” American parent’s first choice. Medication has become so easy to obtain over the years; it is a quick fix for a laundry list of issues. Alternate methods would greatly influence and make this entire situation better, doing so would take much more time and effort for the patients, but would be more beneficial in the long run. Therefore, I propose that using therapeutic methods such as music therapy, dance therapy, cognitive behavior therapy, and narrative exposure therapy for mental illness patients would not only help solve some of their immediate issues but it would also be a preventative action to ward the off the symptoms from surfacing as frequently. 

I myself have directly been affected by the side effects that such medications have on people. During my senior year of high school my friend Christian became my rock during a very difficult time. He was not only caring and sweet, but he also pushed me and made me a more confident person, merely one month into our friendship everything began to change and I never quite understand why. It was not until after he had shared his struggles and illness with me that I was able to piece together the reason that we would never have such a strong friendship again. Christian had told me that he was clinically depressed, I reacted the same way I always do in my life, I hugged him and told him that everything would be completely fine. Although his life is completely fine today, our friendship is not, he has been taking medication to month into our friendship he began to take medication in order to treat such depression, after only one visit to the psychologist he was prescribed such medication and immediately began taking it. I personally and truly believe that the medication he was taking was the reason that we were more distant friends then we ever have been. His medication took a piece of him with it, he was no longer loving, fun, happy Christian, he was a duller version of himself. It was a melancholy time for me, and it continues to be each day, my goal is to show him alternate options after I research them completely. So, this one is for you Christian, where ever you are right now… and whoever you are with, I wanted to learn as much as I was able to about this topic and change the minds of many.  

Alternative options for mental illness patients are abundant and very available. Such ideas for these other options would include all those therapeutic methods that are being studied and trialed today. Therefore, it is quite unclear whether or not there is a specific mushroom therapy for all types of mental illnesses and all of the patients they include. Thus this creates a more “case-by-case” outlook for each individual patient’s therapy options that would remove medication as a main source of relief. The same can be said for medicating patients case-by-case as well, because medication effects people in different ways. As stated in Roger Greenberg’s journal: “One corollary of this change in emphasis has been an increasing societal reliance on drugs to thwart negative feelings, and the maladaptive impact these negative emotions have on navigating life’s challenges” (“Rebirth of Psychosocial Importance”). This statement helps to prove the fact that medication can have severely negative effects on patients’ lives, which may seem like common sense, yet I would then propose the question of why, if it is so greatly and widely known that medication can have so many negative effects on the lives of many that prescribing such would be so popular. The fact is that people need something easy to turn to in moments of distress, a “quick fix” and medication does so, Dr. Lissa Rankin explains that medication is just that, a fast solution, but that the world must put into place more preventative solutions rather than quick ones (“Is medicine killing you?”). Her point thus shows how preventative measures must be taken in order for the problems to be expelled and less likely to come back, rather than to suppressed memories sitting in the back of the human mind. Another negative side effect of the over prescription of medication is becoming highly addicted to the specific drug you use and possible even others, maybe even some illegal ones. 

Gateway drugs are often, what I have always thought to be “old wife’s tales” but the truth is that gateway drugs are very real and very serious. Christian has always smoked marijuana, but after he had started taking his medication I noticed that smoking marijuana and even experimenting with new, different and extremely dangerous drugs. Dr. Sullivan’s research article opened my eyes to the fact that medications are in fact somewhat gateway drugs. He speaks of the association between mental health disorders and problems with drug use, specifically opioid use. In his article, Sullivan states that “It also has not been possible to determine whether mental disorders increase the risk of opioid use or whether opioid use in- creases the risk of mental disorders” (“Association Between Mental Health Disorders”), but this article investigates the fact that such may be possible and is hypothesized about and researched often. Therefore, in this study such conclusions help to infer that the association between opioid use and mental illness patients may be a leading issue in the future. One chart that aids in representing and explaining the data found in Ds. Sullivan’s article is as follows: 

(“Association Between Mental Health Disorders”). Observations that can be made from such a chart are as follows: the association between the use of opioids and general drug abuse between different types of mental illness patients. This data helps to prove that there is a general increase in the number of patients who have begun to abuse other types of drugs because of the medications they are being put on and how their medications may be becoming gateway drugs. 

In George Albee’s article his title enforces the thoughts that people should just avoid psychotropic drugs as a whole, this man stated something that came to be true in the following years and his points are valid, the statement is as follows: “I am opposed to the prescription of drugs by psychologists doing individual therapy for mental disorders. A handful of years ago, we reached the point (that I had predicted in my APA Presidential Address; Albee, 1970) where practicing clinical psychologists greatly outnumbered psychological scientists and took over the governance of the American Psychological Association. I predicted that there would be two different psychological associations, one concerned with practice, and the other concerned with science. And that has happened” (“Just Say No to Psychotropic”). The statement above shows how the world of medicine when it comes to this issue is extremely two sided and how there are many people who want to change this over prescription of medication but others think that it is a therapeutic option for mental illness patients. Therefore, Albee’s point is that “Prescribing drugs for mental disorders by psychologists means accepting an invalid model—the brain disease, biological-defect explanation of psychopathology—that is advanced by political conservatives and accepted by some naive, well-intentioned, but misinformed moderates who have not thought critically about the issue” (“Just Say No to Psychotropic”). He is saying that medication hurts patients more than it actually benefits them. I experienced this first hand, the human brain is an amazing organ, and (I think) overall tool that should not be tampered with unless it is completely necessary. Albee is trying to say something similar, by medicating these “brain illnesses” it is actually hurting the brain and creating more serious issues for the patients. Christian is a victim of such, at least he is on the surface, he is a muted, suppressed version and he was diagnosed with anxiety and social issues after being on the medication for two months. This further proves that mediation can make more problems before it can even solve the pressing ones. 

Music therapy is a new and “up and coming” option for therapeutically aiding mental illness patients. A study was orchestrated by Ms. Yasmine Iliya, in which she took an abnormal human emotion that is caused by extreme sadness, grief, and studied how music therapy helped patients suffering to coop. Ilya defines music therapy in her article: “Music therapy is a ‘therapeutic method that uses musical interaction as a means of communication and expression’ (Mossler, Chen, Heldal, & Gold, 2011, p. 1)” (“Music Therapy as Grief Therapy”). Such expression helps to communicate feelings that patients are struggling with. In this specific study Iliya uses research to explain the effects of music therapy: “In a meta-analysis of 27 studies with bereaved children and adolescents (N1⁄41,073), researchers found music therapy to be the ‘‘most successful...[and] promising venue for grief intervention’’ of all the interventions reviewed in the meta-analysis (Rosner, Kruse, & Hagl, 2010, p. 130)” (“Music Therapy as Grief Therapy”). Music therapy can help patients to coop by adding music, which is often associated with something happier, depending on the moment the song is associated with or even something sad but it is expression of a feeling that helps people to move forward

Another option that is recently being studied and given praise is dance therapy, specifically Ted Ehrhardt is a leading researcher in the dance movement therapy and mental illness studies. He himself has been integrating his mental illness patients with this newer idea of dance therapy, specifically a 19-year-old woman with severe mental illness has been participating in his dance therapy for a month now (“Dance/Movement Therapy”). Through this he is able to help mental illness patients who are severely ill and may be institutionalized. “Caroline” (the name given to the 19-year-old woman), was slow to begin her dance movements, even after six weeks of the program. One day Mr. Ehrhardt had Caroline show everyone her movements, as she moved her body in circles for two minutes, and everyone in the group mirrored her (“Dance/Movement Therapy”). This somewhat small step for Caroline was actually a monumental moment that sparked her participation and had immersed her into the program which would be beneficial to her in many ways. One day during one of Mr. Ehrardt’s dance therapy sessions one of his patients finally related their movements to an actual thought and feeling, and this is the exact goal of dance therapy: to move the movements into a realm of imagination where the patient can interpret their thoughts and feelings and say them (“Dance/Movement Therapy”). This alternative method for treatment is a solid contender for the replacement or lessening of medicated treatments.

 Another new and up and coming type of therapy is cognitive behavioral group therapy, I am personally involved in cognitive behavioral therapy. I was recently diagnosed with anxiety and depression and I am finding my cognitive behaviorally therapy extremely effective. The type of cognitive behavioral therapy that Hiroko studies and writes of is group therapy, I am not involved in that specific type.  Group therapy is a different angle of this type of therapy, and in Hiroko’s study the groups he chose were not randomized they were specifically chosen in order to see the effects this experimenting had on each of the mental illness patient’s specifically (“Effect of cognitive behavioral group therapy”). Cognitive behavioral therapy is put in place to get to the root of the issue this is an angle that is put in to solve and prevent from issues to keep from arising again. This study took place in order “…to examine over a 12-month post-intervention period whether the participation of community-living individuals with mental illness in cognitive behavioral group therapy for recovery of self-esteem (CBGTRS) resulted in improved outcomes” (“Effect of cognitive behavioral group therapy”). Therefore, this study was used to help improve the way mental illness patients viewed themselves and their lives in general, in order to improve their general theme of life. This idea of cognitive behavioral therapy was put in place in order to give mental illness patients other more helpful options other than turning to medication. This type of therapy will find the root of the issue and give the patient ways to change the feelings that they are personally having. Doing this in a group helps to give a common diagnosis for all different people. 

Narrative exposure therapy for stress disorder has also when a researched topic for mental illness patients as an alternative method. This type of exposure “builds on the theory of the dual representation of traumatic memories (Elbert & Schauer, 2002)” (NET).  This main goal of this particular case study was: “the primary aim of this study is to evaluate NET in SMI patients with comorbid PTSD associated with repeated interpersonal trauma to get insight into whether (1) the PTSD and present dissociative symptoms changes and (2) changes occur in the present SMI symptoms, care needs, quality of life, global functioning, and care consumption” (“Narrative exposure therapy for posttraumatic”). The researches then would introduce the fact that these issues must be dealt with in order to move forward from the harsh feelings the patient was battling with each day. In doing so there was a clear result that showed how this exposure therapy was beneficial to its patients. This type of therapy is a solid replacement for medication as well. 

On the other side of this argument medication should be the main diagnosis for people who are struggling with mental illnesses. Although this statement disagrees with my argument, it is supported by many valid points and factual information. This is seen in Reza’s study about the prescribing pattern of antidepressant drugs in the population of mental illness patients. Reza writes: “The present study aimed at exploring this issue by reviewing the prescriptions of general practitioners (GPs) and psychiatrists” (“Prescribing Pattern of Antidepressant Drugs”).  This study was put in place in order to view the normal patterns of drug distributions that are given to people who struggle with mental illness. Drug patterning, in this specific study helps to show how mental illness patients are first given the treatment of medication when it comes to the diagnosing and ways to help the patient. There is also the argument that, “Prescribed medications play a key role in the treatment of co-occurring disorders. They can reduce symptoms and prevent relapses of a psychiatric disorder” (“Medications Play a Key Role”). This is a valid statement considering the fact that I have been refuting this idea of the symptoms being completely erased. Therefore, this article and others help to show the fact that medication can act as a preventative measure for some. As I said earlier, when dealing with mental illness patients it really is a case-by-case battle in terms of diagnosing. There was also a very interesting point made by Brown and Gray in their article about medication and non-adherence in which they explained why medication is so heavily diagnosed: “Although the professionals that we talked to recognized that treatment adherence was a major issue in their clinical work, they did not make best use of evidence-based interventions to address the problem. Often their practice was based on what they believed would work (e.g. patient education) even when the research shows that way of working to be ineffective”(“Tackling Medication non-adherence”). Such quotation helps to show the fact that, yes, in some cases medication is extremely necessary to suppress patients who have voices in their heads of severe issues that they cannot manage themselves. This is quite important, there must be medication for those mental illness patients with severe illnesses, but Brown and Gray say that health care professionals diagnose based on what they think will work. This wraps back into the main issue with over medicating, everything is speculation and guessing, people are pushed from one drug to another until they find out what really “works” but who is to say it is “working” if it changes the person’s uniqueness in some ways. Medication, although it is very helpful, it does change a mental illness completely… is this really what people want? 

Medication is a “people fixer”, it is given away like candy, it is easy to obtain and take, it is highly addictive and most Americans turn to medication as a first relief. I refute all thoughts and feelings people have about medication, I think it is a slow killer, it takes away from the patient, it changes lives, maybe not always for the better. I, myself, am going into health care, I am studying nursing and I already have seen so much hurt and negative come from medicating. In my life, Christian is the main example of medication taking something away from me and causing him to hurt himself through other drugs. By using other methods for relief and prevention is more beneficial than medication. Mental illness patients are given all types of medication until their doctors find the right fit for them, this causes constant up and downs on medication and in between the changing of their medication. The pain that mental illness patients have to feel during these periods of their life can easily be expelled, alternative options should replace medication in the future.  
