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Medication
Medication is extremely useful, and can provide immediate relief from distress and symptoms which seriously disrupt everyday functioning. It can be effective in quelling anxiety, moderating depression, panic attacks, and obsessive-compulsive behavior (recurring thoughts, behavior rituals). Medication is also used to treat psychotics, a general term used to describe the most serious mental illnesses such a schizophrenia. A psychosis constitutes a complete break with reality, and symptoms may include thought disorders, such as extreme paranoia and hallucinations (you believe you are being followed by Martians). But medication - used judiciously - can be a good interim measure in less extreme situations. First, it allays the suffering many symptoms cause, and helps you continue to function without too much disruption. Then, stabilized on medication and past crisis, you can begin to explore and work on the underlying issues. Medication does not however, substitute for therapy. Symptoms such as depression, anxiety, panic attacks, for example, are warnings that something is wrong. Medication provides symptom relief, but does not address the underlying cause. Medication is like applying an outside buttress to a building with a structural weakness: the buttress works to hold the building up temporarily, but the building still requires structural repair. Home
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Us | About Therapy | Medication Phone: (212) 737-5200 E-Mail: PsychAffiliates@aol.com |
