The Greater of Two Evils? How People With Transformative Psychotic Experiences View Psychotropic Medications

• Published in: Ethical human psychology and psychiatry Vol. 12; no. 1; pp. 44 - 59
• Main Authors: Hagen, Brad F., Nixon, Gary, Peters, Tracey
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York Springer Publishing Company 01.04.2010
• Subjects: Attitudes; Behavioral Sciences; Clinical and Counseling Psychology; Cognitive, Biological, and Neurological Psychology; Medicine; Mental Health; Psychology; Psychosis; Social and Personality Psychology; TRANSFORMATION; PSYCHOTROPIC MEDICATIONS; PSYCHOSIS; QUALITATIVE RESEARCH
• ISSN: 1559-4343; 1938-9000
• DOI: 10.1891/1559-4343.12.1.44

This article describes the results of a qualitative study with 22 participants who were originally interviewed about their experiences of the potentially transformational nature of psychotic episodes. During the interviews, however, the participants spontaneously described their experiences with taking psychotropic medications (particularly antipsychotics). Participants fell into three general groups in terms of their attitudes towards psychotropic medications: (a) those who complied with psychotropic use but felt that such use had considerable limitations, (b) those who felt that psychotropics should be used only in crisis situations, and (c) those who felt that the use of psychotropics was never justified. Overall, the majority of participants had very negative experiences with psychotropic medications, and this article presents a number of themes describing how participants felt that psychotropic medications caused them harm physically, cognitively, emotionally, and spiritually-and interfered with their eventual recovery from psychosis. Finally, this article presents themes that summarize how participants felt that mental health professionals contributed to their negative views toward taking psychotropic drugs.