Why Psychotropic Drugs Don't Cure Mental Illness—But Should They?

Abstract

While pharmacological treatments for psychiatric disorders have offered great promise and have provided clinically meaningful symptom relief these treatments have had less effect on altering the course of these disorders. Research has provided many new insights about the effects of different psychotropic agents on the functions of various brain systems as investigators have embraced the “translational research model.” However, this theoretical approach of deconstructing complex behaviors into smaller measurable behavioral units and targeting brain systems that are hypothesized to underlie these discrete behaviors has offered little of practical clinical relevance to significantly improve the treatment of psychiatric disorders in this century. Radical new treatments have not emerged, and available treatments continue to provide symptom relief without resolution of the underlying conditions. Recent publications on the subject have attempted to identify the barriers to progress and have pointed out some of the limitations of the translational approach. It is our position that, given the present limitations of our therapeutic arsenal, both researchers and clinicians would be well-advised to pay closer attention to human specific factors such as the role of language, the creation of personal narratives, and how factors such as these interface with underlying biological diatheses in mental illness. These interactions between pathophysiology and intrapersonal processes may be critical to both the in vivo expression of the underlying biological mechanisms of psychiatric disease states, and to the development of enhancements in therapeutic efficacy. Lastly, we discuss the implications of more coherently integrating neuroscientific research and clinical practice for more effectively addressing the challenges of understanding and treating mental illness.

Putting the “mental” back in “mental disorders”: a perspective from research on fear and anxiety

“…But contrary to the predictions of the medical model, decades of research have failed to discover new, efficacious pharmacological treatments [20,21,[47][48][49]. As a result, the pharmaceutical industry has been eliminating or reducing efforts in psychiatric drug discovery [23,24,50].…”

The Presence of the Anti-Streptococcus Antibodies in the Bipolar Affective Disorder.

“…As psychiatric patients seem to have visited a number of various subspecialty consultants, including the psychiatrists who have treated them with electroconvulsive therapy (ECTs), even without response The objective of this study was to find out the presence of anti-streptococcus antibodies in bipolar affective disorder with respect to family history, educational background, and gender differences. (1). So, we aimed to carry out the study.…”

“…Generally, the streptococcus group A beta hemolyticus infection (GAS) can cause a number of infections by different kinds of pathogenic mechanisms in the general population, ranging from direct skin infections to autoimmune reactions (1). The most common somatic manifestation of streptococcal infections is boils (erysipelas, for example) which can lead to rheumatic fever.…”

Complex Trauma and the Wounded Spirit: Incorporating Spirituality Into Social Work Practice

“…While both have a place for acute injuries, emergencies, and maintenance to provide the space to heal, pharmaceuticals only mask the pain, suffering, and symptoms that result from trauma (Castillo & Braslow, 2021;Ivanov & Schwartz, 2021).…”

“…It is a wonder where the line is dawn to implement the protections of The Nuremberg Code. While psychotropic medications can provide a space for someone to do therapeutic work in exploring and processing their traumas, majority of the medications only have the capability to maintain the patient or client (Ivanov & Schwartz, 2021). Therefore, these medications do not heal the mind, body, and soul nor do they restore one's spirit-to-Spirit connection.…”