Answers about oft-questioned psychiatric medications

By Mayo Clinic Staff

Taking medications on a daily basis can be a chore, but it becomes more challenging if there’s lack of understanding of or misconceptions about your medication. Many patients are skeptical about taking psychiatric medications.

There are a few factors that contribute to this distrust:

1. The medication has to be taken every day. Unfortunately, psychiatric medications don’t always work immediately like pain pills do.
2. Psychiatric medications often take several weeks to start working.
3. Patients worry about how their medications will affect them, both with side effects and risk of addiction.

Factual information about psychiatric medications:

• Prescription medications referred to as antidepressants are also effective anti-anxiety medications.
• To see results, you must take these medications consistently. If you’ve been taking your medication for at least six weeks without much benefit, ask your physician to look at the dose you were prescribed. The medication dose needs to be optimized before you can determine the medication’s efficacy.
• Some psychiatric medications are habit forming. These medications are considered controlled substances. Your physician will only prescribe these types of medications when absolutely necessary. The most commonly prescribed antidepressant medications aren’t habit-forming or addictive.
• Although some medications may cause increase anxiety or irritability, this response isn’t common. If there’s a change in your behavior after taking a particular medicine, speak with your physician to help you to find a more suitable option.
• If you’ve had side effects from one medication, you won’t necessarily experience the same side effects on similar medications.

If you’re having issues with medications, promptly contact your health care team. Discontinuing medications on your own is not good a good idea. Don’t wait until your next appointment, because you lose precious time and spend days suffering unnecessarily. Your physician wants to help you find medication that works for you.