Spain is at the forefront of psychotropic drug consumption understanding these as medications that act on the brain producing psychological effects.
We are above the European average in terms of consumption of anxiolytics and benzodiazepines. Anxiolytics, antidepressants and sleeping pills are prescribed without thinking too much about their possible side effects and without considering, as a first option, going to psychotherapy.
There are multiple associated factors that explain the medicalization of psychological well-being, among them, their low economic cost, ranging from 1 to 3 euros per box of some of these medications, their cost having decreased in recent years.
On the other hand, it is very easy to access psychotropic drugs; it is enough for the doctor at the health center to prescribe them, that is, it is not necessary for a mental health professional to do so. Prescribing them can be very simple if people report symptoms that can mostly resemble anxiety, depression and insomnia; However, it is most likely that we are not talking about depression, but about sadness, and that we are not talking about pathological anxiety or that, even if that were the case, this problem could be solved with psychotherapy.
But, and we enter into the third reason… how is a doctor going to refer a person to psychotherapy when there are hardly any psychologists in Social Security? Specifically, there are 4 psychologists and 6 psychiatrists for every one hundred thousand inhabitants. The doctors, therefore, They are almost forced to prescribe them to offer some “solution” to the patient
On the other hand, we must attend to the almost obligation of being happy and feeling well at all times. Therefore, when the person feels sadness, nervous, he goes through grief… He notices that something is not right within himself and that he has to take some pill to “cure” it But what if going through that sadness, feeling anxiety, grieving a loss… is healthy, necessary and adaptive?
Stress, frustrations or pain are increasingly tolerated less , so the person seeks the immediacy of the drug; However, in this way, we may be reducing our coping abilities.
It is also necessary to talk about the normalization of these consumptions. In few families there is no member who consumes psychotropic drugs, it is something very normalized, which is a clear factor that affects this increase in consumption.
Unhealthy lifestyles
Stress and our poor sleep hygiene combined with an increasingly worrying use of technologies, cause the increase in medications to fall asleep, despite the fact that it has been proven that they help you sleep but not rest, generating a sensation of heaviness and apathy in the person that is rarely taken into account before consuming them.
The problem of overdiagnosis
Another relevant factor is the tendency towards overdiagnosis and medicalization in our society, which we can see in the new versions of the DSM, in the medicalization of minors with psychotropic drugs, etc. All of this is greatly influenced by the interests of the pharmaceutical industry.
What can be the consequences of taking this type of drugs?
First of all, dependency can be generated Addiction to psychotropic drugs is increasing, these being among the drugs that are currently creating the most addiction.
Most psychotropic drugs create physical dependence, that is, the consumer’s body will show symptoms of the withdrawal syndrome when consumption stops. And, on the other hand, psychological dependence arises: The brain gets used to this substance and will demand greater quantities potentially reaching the point of not being able to fall asleep or function on a day-to-day basis without these pills.
If we are prescribed a pill that we take when we are nervous and another when we are sad, what happens if we are nervous or sad and we don’t have it? It is likely that we feel that we are not capable of facing that discomfort.
Adverse side effects must also be taken into account Although in the short term anxiolytics can reduce our symptoms (antidepressants take weeks to develop their effects), in the short and long term they can have very considerable side effects.
On the other hand, as we mentioned, anxious or depressive symptoms, among others, can be reduced, but not solve the problem in question, and not start working on it and on the focus of the problem because it reduces this symptomatology and makes us believe that the problem has been solved, and it is likely that it will reappear.
Conclusion
At Mariva Psychologists we think that, although it is true that psychotropic drugs may be necessary, and even more so when we talk about serious psychopathology, We have to be careful when using them and consider whether going to psychotherapy and investing in our mental health, although it requires greater personal effort, is more beneficial. If medication is required, our psychologist will recommend it, and we can combine pharmacology and therapy.
