Psychopharmacology Case Summary

Nowadays clinicians are working closely with psychiatrists to provide effective mental health care to clients who might benefit from the use of psychotropic medication. Clinicians will encounter clients who are prescribed several medications for different mental health disorders. Therefore, it is very important that social workers are knowledgeable about the medication their clients are being prescribed, the side effects of the medication and what the medication does to the body, as well as how medications affect one another. In other words, clinicians must have a clear understanding of the use of medication in treating mental health disorders, this study is called Psychopharmacology. Furthermore, this paper will examine when should a client be referred to a psychiatrist for medication management, what are the goals of medication treatment and what are some cultural and ethical implications of treatment. This paper will also look at a case study and why we would recommend a psychopharmacology referral to a specific client.
According to Shannon E. Carroll, Psychiatric Nurse Practitioner (2015) the …show more content…
The clinician must decide what medication to use and that concentrates on the client’s symptoms and diagnosis. The clinician will also look at the medication history of the client’s family, often if the medication works on their mother or father, it will work on the client. The clinician will also seek guidance from the APA guideline for mental illnesses and follow a pattern of treatment that is put on a decision tree. The decision tree basically gives the clinician a specific treatment plan base on the diagnosis. Furthermore, the clinician must look at the goals of the medication treatment, whether it is a short or long-term process. This would help determine the type of medication treatment the client can get. The overall goal is to keep people healthy and prevent or treat mental health