Psychiatric medicines
Efforts to use chemicals as medicine to relieve emotional pain, change unhelpful habits, or fix irrational thoughts go back millenia. Even today, people often use ancient substances, especially alcohol, to address these issues.
We are extremely fortunate to live in a scientific age, when we have medications which actually have some real effectiveness in many cases, and which have far fewer side effects than did earlier, more primitive substances.
Psychiatric medications fall into just a few main groups. These are the anti-depressants, the anti-psychotics (for hallucinations or delusions, as in schizophrenia), the anxiolytics (for anxiety), the mood stablizers (for mania), the nootropics (for memory impairment), and the sleep aids (for insomnia).
Dr. Chafetz is in favor of the appropriate use of well chosen psychiatric medications. They are a valuable companion to psychotherapy or family consultation in many cases. He routinely works in concert with patients' prescribing physicians.
We are extremely fortunate to live in a scientific age, when we have medications which actually have some real effectiveness in many cases, and which have far fewer side effects than did earlier, more primitive substances.
Psychiatric medications fall into just a few main groups. These are the anti-depressants, the anti-psychotics (for hallucinations or delusions, as in schizophrenia), the anxiolytics (for anxiety), the mood stablizers (for mania), the nootropics (for memory impairment), and the sleep aids (for insomnia).
Dr. Chafetz is in favor of the appropriate use of well chosen psychiatric medications. They are a valuable companion to psychotherapy or family consultation in many cases. He routinely works in concert with patients' prescribing physicians.
