– How Do I Know If I Need Medication For the Things I am Going Through?

Using Nashville individual psychotherapy to understand if I need psychotropic medication.

The most important thing to know about medication and about this article, is that medication alone won’t create true transformation and change in your life. Medication along with psychotherapy (or counseling or therapy, whichever term is most comfortable to you) is the only way to address patterns and choices in your life that will lead to long lasting change and difference. Psychotherapy alone can help a person transform their way of engaging life, so that the ailments that brought an individual into therapy won’t affect them as deeply, but a person will still have to do work and make shifts in their life outside therapy in order for change to occur.

WHAT DOES MEDICINE DO?

Medicine at its core will simply alter the way the brain processes information. It can also affect blood flow to various parts of the body, but ultimately even the reduction in inflammation (for instance) will allow greater space in the brain for an individual to process information, rather than focusing on their physical pain. When a medicine alters the way the brain processes information, it simply allows a person to have more time and energy to examine what is happening in their external world and thereby having more options to make a choice that aligns with the type of life they want to live. When we are in pain, or we feel overwhelmed, or flooded with anxiety, the first thought most of us have is: What is the quickest way to make this uncomfortability go away? This way of thinking can feel involuntary, almost automatic, especially if we are suffering to a great degree. What medicine, at least appropriate medicine, can do is lower the intensity of this suffering and give us the option of making a different choice. This “different choice” can help us determine if making the pain go away immediately is the best long-term decision that will give us what we want in the future.

HOW DOES NASHVILLE INDVIDIUAL PSYCHOTHERAPY HELP WITH MEDICINE?

Let’s take an example. If a person suffers from anxiety, they will generally look to the first, successful choice to help alleviate their anxiety. Let’s say a particular individual worries about their loved one becoming hurt or injured in an excessive way. Whenever that anxiety starts swirling about them, they will generally send a text or call that loved one to “ensure” their loved one is alive and okay. If their loved one responds, then this person will feel okay again, and their anxious symptoms will reside. The problem with using this strategy to reduce their anxiety is that it relies on an outside source to reduce their symptoms. If their loved one does not respond, what is their next course of action? Perhaps they start drinking alcohol to numb out a little bit. It works! Alcohol can lower our intense feelings of anxiety. Of course, it’s quite easy to see in this example that drinking alcohol is not a good long term solution to managing our anxiety. However, the example holds. All of us, without believing there are better “solutions” out there, will generally turn to the first behavior that will reduce our symptoms of discomfort.

Nashville individual psychotherapy will help us see more clearly what we are doing and can provide better alternatives to dealing with suffering. However, the hard work, whether we are taking medication or not, is to allow a little more suffering to occur in order to make a choice that helps us in the long run, even if it means we are uncomfortable for a longer period of time.

For some people, the suffering is too great during those times of anxiety (or depression or OCD or grief) and medication could be quite beneficial to help lower the intensity of those times. If the intensity of suffering during those moments is lowered, then the person can have a greater chance of making a different choice in the moment that will help them truly deal with the implications of their anxiety. The important thing to remember is that with or without medication, the responsibility still remains with the individual to make a different decision in the moment. This is the only thing that creates change and transformation. The medication won’t make a person choose a different action. The medication will simply allow a greater space/opportunity for the person to notice the choice they are about to make.

WHERE DO I FIND NASHVILLE INDIVIDUAL PSYCHOTHERAPY?

If you are noticing that you keep making the same choices that lead to unhealthy outcomes, then Nashville individual psychotherapy may be helpful for you. Chris Roberts is a licensed professional counselor in Tennessee with many years helping people live more healthy lives and determining if medicine is the best next step for them. Chris has experience with anxiety, depression, grief, OCD, and relational issues. You can reach out to Chris at chris@nashvillecounselor.net.