Taking antipsychotic medications without a prior prescription from a specialist in the area can trigger a series of complications that affect both physical and mental health that could be of gravity. Antipsychotics are medications prescribed for the treatment of clinical conditions such as schizophrenia, paranoia, manic-depressive psychosis, among others. However, on some occasions people confuse symptoms of these diagnoses with some manifestation that they are experiencing at a certain moment in their lives. Consequently, they are guided by the comments that society provides about the possible scope of the medication.
In this Psychology-Online article we will provide you with information about the risks of taking antipsychotics without needing them.
Antipsychotics are prescribed when a person has compatible symptoms that could be placed within the psychotic disorders proposed by the DSM-V[1]. In more specific terms, the most common clinical pictures are schizophrenia, delusional disorder, paranoid personality disorder, schizoaffective disorder, among others.
All these diagnoses have in common the persistence of visual, auditory delusions and hallucinations, sensitive and/or gustatory. Although it is true that each clinical picture can fluctuate and have differences in the people who carry these manifestations, the intensity of each symptom allows a mental health professional to indicate the supply of antipsychotics.
A healthy person can have harmful effects on their behaviour, emotions and thoughts if they take antipsychotics without needing them. Here are some of the main risks:
- metabolic alterations: organic changes that affect the functioning of organs, such as increased body weight and the risk of contracting diabetes. On the other hand, an altered metabolism can cause cardiovascular problems since the clinical values of each body system begin to function poorly.
- cognitive damage: antipsychotics interfere with attention span, reasoning and memory. This is because these drugs inhibit some neural connections that occur in the central nervous system. In these cases, there is a possibility that the person will develop Alzheimer's or problems in reasoning concrete and abstract situations, among others.
- Involuntary patterns of body movements: In some cases, the person may develop muscle stiffness, tremors, and involuntary movements that are made without intention.
- sleep disturbances: Due to the sedative effect of most antipsychotics, it is possible that dysregulation of sleep patterns may occur. The alteration of the circadian cycles that are used to establish an adequate rest can lead to insomnia or hypersomnia.
- Low blood pressure: Blood flow in the body may be altered, causing episodes of fainting, dizziness, and nausea.
- sexual problems: the production of hormones for sexuality can be stopped. Likewise, it has been shown that it can cause erectile dysfunction and premature ejaculation in men or menstrual disorders and a deficit in the production of breast milk in women.
In this article you will find information about types of psychosis.
Given the knowledge of the risky effects that antipsychotics produce without the need to consume them, it is important to know how to proceed at a medical level. In this section, we will address this topic:
- Education: Faced with the suspicion that someone is ingesting this class of psychoactive drugs, it is essential to maintain empathic communication in the face of the problems that it unfolds. In this way, it is possible to understand the unfavorable harmful effects for the organism.
- Professional orientation: In general terms, the consumption of antipsychotics responds to specific causes that must be specified in each person. For this reason, it is important that special emphasis be placed on the need to see a health professional to treat the underlying problem.
- emotional containment: showing support and security is a way to contain the person who is suffering. This not only implies listening to the suffering, but also offering a space of comfort and well-being for the anguish to unfold.
- Understanding: It is not a matter of judging the person who takes antipsychotics without needing them, but of showing him that he is understood and that there are reasons why he has resorted to taking them. In any case, it is not advisable to reinforce these ideas either because they could increase intakes and cause other types of problems.
This article is merely informative, at Psychology-Online we do not have the power to make a diagnosis or recommend a treatment. We invite you to go to a psychologist to treat your particular case.
