Medication Management

What is medication management?

Medication management ensures that any prescriptions and other medicines you take benefit your health and don’t pose unnecessary risks.

Many people take two or three medications daily, and others take several. These are all meant to improve your health or control unpleasant symptoms. However, every medication has the potential to cause disagreeable side effects.

New and better drugs and treatments are coming onto the market all the time. Some cause fewer side effects or pose a lower risk of reacting with other medications you might be taking.

Regularly reviewing your medicines enables the Mind Health Institute, Orange County team to check that you’re on the best, safest medications and taking the correct dose.

Do I need medications for mental health conditions?

Most mental health problems respond best to a combination of medication and talk therapies. Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) and other psychotherapy forms are vital to recovery from mental illness, and the Mind Health Institute, Orange County team always uses an appropriate form of talk therapy to treat patients.

However, medications can also be invaluable treatment tools. Mental health conditions often have links to imbalances in brain chemicals or faulty signals coming from the brain’s neurotransmitters. Medications help rebalance these chemicals so that your brain functions more normally.

Which medications might I need?

You could take various medicines for physical illnesses, over-the-counter (OTC) medications, and, very often, herbal and other natural remedies. These all have the potential to interact with each other, sometimes with adverse consequences. Added to this are the medications you might be taking for a mental health disorder, like:

• Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs)
• Serotonin-norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors (SNRIs)  
• Tricyclic and tetracyclic antidepressants
• Monoamine oxidase inhibitors (MAOIs)
• Anti-anxiety medications
• Stimulants
• Antipsychotic medications
• Atypical antipsychotics
• Mood stabilizers
• Anticonvulsant drugs

Medication management ensures that the combination of medicines you’re taking isn’t putting you at risk.

In addition to reviewing all the medications and combinations you’re taking and adjusting them where appropriate, the Mind Health Institute, Orange County team also reviews how well you’re doing on your mental health medications.

For instance, if your current antidepressant isn’t having a noticeable effect, you might be better off trying one from an alternative class.

Call Mind Health Institute, Orange County, or book an appointment online today to learn more about medication management.