Medication Vs Therapy

In the psychology field, there are both psychiatrists and psychologists. Psychiatrists tend to be purely for prescribing medication for a mental illness, while psychologists tend to be based on therapeutic ways to cope with a mental illness. Within these two fields of work, there has been much debate over whether medication or therapy is the best way to cope with mental illnesses like depression and anxiety. Medication used for psychological disorders are all neurotransmission blockers. This means that the neurotransmitter classified as serotonin or dopamine, two of the more popular transmitters discussed in regards to mental illnesses like depression. These medications block the site where the transmitter binds. Normally, …show more content…
However, many true psychiatric doctors will not diagnose these young children with psychological disorders, but the child's physician will. After being on medication for a long period of time, the child begins to become addicted to the medication and unable to be without it, often going through severe withdrawals and needing to be hospitalized. Other than the addictive properties, children on these medications develop side effects from them. For example, tardive dyskinesia, a tic disorder caused by over use of psychotropic medication, is often treated by adding more medications. Which then makes it even more difficult to get off of the medication, if desired, without extreme hospitalization. On an even darker side, the younger children on these medications can die due to overdose on medications their doctor sees fit for their age, even though the recommendation is 18 years or …show more content…
There are many different kinds of therapy for all kinds of mental illnesses, for example talk therapy and Cognitive Behavioral therapy are the two most common for anxiety and depression. Therapy of all kinds helps individuals whose problems spread deeper than what medication can cover, which is most psychological disorders. Talk therapy is exactly what it says. The patient talks about their problems or traumas and the therapist talks to them about their opinions on those issues. Talk therapy is also known as psychotherapy and is often used to treat depression. While the therapy is based on conversation, it is also much more than that. The therapist helps you move to a healthy solution to the patient's illness. This therapy talks about the past as it can help you in the present and future. On the other hand, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, or CBT, is used to get into your thoughts, the cognitive processes, and change those to then change your behavior. While this is also a level of talk therapy, CBT is a way to change relationships, feelings, thoughts, and behaviors. For example, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy is used to change the way people view themselves with low self-esteem. Instead of thinking of only what they cannot do, the patient is encouraged to think they can due to past experiences. Both of these therapeutic methods have been shown to be very successful in treating both anxiety and