An article that appeared recently in one of the local papers went to great lengths to highlight the growing number of patients seeking psychiatric help, and how business was booming for those prescribing the magic pill. The article inferred that the recent volatility of the Saudi stock market has led many to a life of uncertainty, anxiety and depression.
What it failed to focus on were the remedial actions of those in the medical profession who are tasked to deal with such mental anguish. For as long as I have been aware of local therapeutic help, psychiatric treatment through a concentrated study of the patient’s medical and social background simply does not exist at hospitals I have had a chance to visit.
At such major hospitals, it is not uncommon to notice swarms of patients waiting dolefully for their monthly prescriptions of soothing drugs. The psychiatrist on duty seems to have a quota to fill, and patients are shuttled in and out, willingly led by a nurse through an imaginary turnstile, within a span of a few minutes with prescriptions in hand.
It seems to me that very little effort is made by those in this noble profession to understand the mechanics and triggers that have led a patient to seek help. Any student of psychology or psychiatry will tell you that to treat a patient effectively, one must get to the root of the problem that is giving rise to the disturbances swirling a patient’s mental state. And that is way before any pills are readily prescribed.
But here it seems that have “prescription pad, will travel”.
Time and time again, patients are fed with chemicals deadly enough to put a horse down. And this is done without prior testing of the patient’s reactions to such pills. Whether the doctors are working in cahoots with the drug suppliers remains to be investigated, but what is certain is that there have been far too many cases of patients being prescribed the wrong medication, especially in the field of psychiatry.
Stories of patients erroneously diagnosed and given epileptic medication when all they needed was perhaps a change of climate and some rest are not uncommon. Neither are cases of mind-altering medication being dispensed to patients who had a slight case of anxiety. And whether it is a case of a psychiatrist pushing pills to get to the next patient and thus increasing revenue for his hospital, or simply incompetence on the part of the psychiatrist, remains to be investigated by the Health Ministry.
While most of us generally do a bit of research on the medication we are about to take, not all of us are so cautious or vigilant. Experience has taught us that doctors do not always know best, and patients must be alert before experimenting with new medication. Some people are very trusting of their doctors and will pop those pills as instructed. And when there are severe or in some cases extreme reactions, they are generally blamed on the patient or as “acts of God”.
In the field of psychiatry, the problem is more intense as mind-altering drugs can be destructive and sometimes create a life-long dependency factor.
Whether the patient’s situation really warrants such powerful medication should not be motivated by the need to process the highest number of patients through hospital corridors, or by the wheeling and dealing between physicians and drug salesmen, but more by a serious evaluation of the problem on hand.
And patients who have been written prescriptions during such times should remember to get another opinion or two. When in doubt, hold off. Don’t be too agreeable to popping those pills.
