Dear Cheryl, I suspect that we live on different sides of the psychiatric railroad track, but underneath share the same interest in mental illness and the same desire to do something about it. There is no simple treatment algorythm that combines psychotherapy with pharmacotherapy, but check out the recent results from the "STEP-BD" study, published in NEJM click here. From the discussion of this article: "Results of a longer-term STEP-BD study do provide support for use of the psychosocial interventions used in our study."
Psychotherapy and Pharmacotherapy both have a part to play, we need to find ways to study how best to use the two approaches for different psychiatric disorders.
I agree that meds have a place in the treatment of the problems that ail us. My concerns come from the power of competing economic interests and the relative scarcity of independent research. And I would so love to see a bunch of good studies of the placebo, which in my thinking may be the most potent agent we have.
I also know that many people with bi-polar disorder are significantly helped by medication. What troubles me is the expansion in the numbers of people diagnosed with this disorder because I don't think it is coming from increased diagnostic skill.
But I am especially and deeply concerned about the rise in numbers of children diagnosed as bi-polar. I see no justification for this at all.
I am heartened by the level of debate occurring all over the blogosphere about these issues because discussion and debate is what is needed to begin to tease apart what forces are at play and how best to deal with them.
Commenting by HaloScan
