Psychotropic drugs are being overprescribed by private practitioners in Jharkhand, Director of Central Institute of Psychiatry (CIP), Dr D Ram has said, admitting that lack of infrastructure in private clinics and vested interests of some pharmaceutical companies could be responsible for the practice.
“Psychotropic drugs are being overprescribed by psychiatrists practicing in private. This over-prescription of drugs may have an adverse effect on patients,” he said. “People suffering from minor to moderate mental health issues respond better to psychotherapy, and sometimes, to a combination of medicines and psychotherapy,” Ram told this newspaper while answering a query at a press conference held recently.
On the question of whether pharmaceutical companies had vested interests in the over-prescription of psychotropic drugs or not, he did not directly admit the role of pharmaceutical companies. However, he said, “You know how the state of affairs are. What should I say on this?”
While CIP has a thorough process in place to detect and address mental illnesses, most of the private clinics give a miss to psychotherapy – an important tool for addressing mental illnesses, say doctors. Clinical psychology comes handy in dealing with mental illnesses developed due to life events such as the loss of a loved one, challenges in dealing with relationships or unemployment, say doctors.
“Most of the private clinics do not have clinical psychologists; therefore, they heavily rely on drugs. However, mental illnesses triggered by life events are best addressed with the help of psychotherapy, which we call counseling in colloquial terms,” said Dr. Chritoday Khess, a senior doctor at CIP.
When a person who is in need of a Clinical Psychologist is only given drugs, he or she takes more time to recover. And in some cases, treating only with drugs may even aggravate the symptoms, doctors say. Deblina Halder, a Financial Editor who has dealt with depression since a young age, recalled her experience of taking psychotropic drugs for more than a year while dealing with the trauma of sexual abuse as a child. “Drugs did not work for me as the fear of staying in close proximity to a male adult persisted. I overcame the fear only through therapy. Honestly, medicines only made me numb and drowsy,” she said.
Psychotropic drugs also cause some harmful side effects and should be prescribed only if the patient is in need of it, say doctors.
Some of the common side effects of psychotropic drugs are erectile dysfunction in men, drowsiness, aggravation of other mental health issues, and digestive disorders, say doctors. “Despite the side effects, psychotropic drugs are extremely effective in treating mental illnesses.
Drugs were invented for a purpose, and they should be used only for it,” said Dr. Khess.
According to a study conducted by World Health Organisation (WHO), at least 6.5 per cent of the Indian population suffers from some form of serious mental disorders, with no discernible rural-urban differences.
Though there are effective measures and treatments, there is an extreme shortage of mental health workers like psychologists, psychiatrists, and doctors. As reported latest in 2014, it was as low as ‘’one in 100,000 people’’, says a leading Indian news portal.