In modern society, prejudices regarding psychotropic drugs are still alive. Many people are convinced that such drugs cause addiction and narcotic effects. Meanwhile, strong pills for mental disorders are sometimes the only way to save a person’s life. In this article you will learn about the types and classes of such drugs, the principles of action and influence on the human psyche.
When should psychotropic pills and injections be used?
The modern rhythm of life dictates its own conditions of survival. Chronic overwork, widespread rudeness and rudeness, traffic jams and queues, a busy process of work - all these factors do not pass without a trace for the psyche and nervous system. For people with a high degree of psycho-emotional stability, no tension is scary, but they break down over time. What can we say about patients with a weak and unstable psyche: they often have to literally survive in the urban jungle.
Among people without a medical education, there is an opinion that psychotropic drugs should be taken only when the diagnosis is already made. That is, when you can confidently talk about the presence of a sick person with depression, schizophrenia, manic-depressive psychosis and other diseases. This is not true. If the patient complains of anxiety, tearfulness, sleep problems, bad mood - this is an occasion to prescribe a course of psychotropics.
It is always easier to prevent the development of a disease than to treat it. Increased suspicion is characteristic of patients at the first stage of paranoid schizophrenia, frequent bad mood at the initial stage of chronic depression, headache and insomnia can serve as a harbinger of psychosis. So do I have to wait? Isn’t it easier to turn to a psychiatrist in time for a prescription for the drug and start living fully and happily?
Class of psychotropic antipsychotics
These are the same terrible antipsychotic drugs that have received notoriety among the people thanks to the works of art “Flying Over the Cuckoo's Nest”, “The Green Mile” and many others. Neuroleptics, as it were, embody the whole danger of psychotropics: they turn a person into a vegetable and make him mentally retarded.
Such an opinion, of course, is completely unprofessional and not true.
The action of antipsychotics owes their lives to tens of thousands of people around the world. In some cases (with schizophrenia of various origins, withdrawal symptoms, paranoid psychosis, etc.), only these pills for mental disorders can help the patient.
Antipsychotics effectively reduce psychomotor agitation and motor anxiety. Effective in psychoses of any etiology. Depending on the degree of antipsychotic action and composition, there are several classes of antipsychotic drugs for mental disorders:
- xanthenes and thioxanthenes (Clopentixol, Flupentixol);
- butyrophenones ("Haloperidol");
- cyclic derivatives ("Risolept");
- benzamide derivatives (Sulpiride, Metoclopramide);
- phenothiazines (Promazin, Tioproperazin, Trifluperazin, Peritsiazin).
Taking most antipsychotics is most often accompanied by the following side effects:
- drowsiness;
- slowness;
- "state of the vegetable";
- apathy;
- in some cases - a feeling of anxiety, hypochondria.
In the case of the development of such symptoms, it is necessary to reduce the dose or change the drug to another.
List of modern antipsychotics
The most striking antipsychotic effect have the following means:
- "Sulpiride" (instructions for use, price and reviews are described below);
- Haloperidol;
- "Aminazine";
- “Sonapax” and “Risolept” are mild antipsychotics, which are prescribed even for children.
These drugs can be used both for treating patients in remission and for exacerbating a psychotic state.
- "Aminazine". the active substance of chlorpromazine hydrochloride is available in the form of a solution for injection. It is prescribed for acute alcoholic psychoses, psychomotor agitation, and insomnia.
- "Sulpiride". Instructions for use, reviews and the price of the drug are of interest to many. It is a tablet and injectable antipsychotic. It has a pronounced antipsychotic effect, antidepressant and mild tranquilizing effect. Reviews about the drug confirm that the drug acts quite gently and is a modern analogue of "Aminazine." The price of the drug varies between 50-100 rubles.
- "Haloperidol" is an antipsychotic that is actively used in psychiatry for the relief of acute psychotic conditions. Used in the Soviet years. Indications for use of Haloperidol: schizophrenia, delirium, psychosis of various etiologies. The drug causes many side effects. It is an analogue of "Aminazine" in action. At the same time, it has an even greater number of side effects. Despite the impressive list of indications for use, Haloperidol is ignored by many psychiatrists. It is still often prescribed to patients by those doctors who practiced back in the Soviet years - then this drug was almost the only one for stopping acute psychotic conditions.
- "Sonapax" is a new generation antipsychotic, the release form is tablets. If "Haloperidol" and "Aminazine" (the indications for use of which are the same as with all other antipsychotics) can not be bought in a pharmacy for an ordinary layman, then "Sonapaks" can be purchased even without a prescription from a doctor. It has a very mild antipsychotic effect.
Tranquilizers and the principle of their action
These medications for the treatment of mental illness are prescribed for anxiety and depressive disorders, hypochondria, obsessive phobias and sleep problems.
What is a tranquilizing effect? This is such an action in which the patient becomes calm, confident in himself and his actions. Obsessive thoughts and fears cease to disturb him.
The downside of tranquilizers is that many of them make a person sleepy, inactive. The patient is gaining excess weight and losing interest in life. There are new generation tranquilizers that have a minimum of side effects and contraindications - they help get rid of fears and anxieties, but at the same time they do not turn the patient into a "vegetable".
Pills for mental disorders with a tranquilizing effect are divided into several categories. It:
- benzodiazepines;
- triazolobenzodiazepines;
- heterocyclic derivatives;
- diphenylmethane derivatives;
- heterocyclic.
List of tranquilizing psychiatric tablets
Among these medications, the following drugs can be distinguished, for which psychiatrists most actively prescribe prescriptions for their patients:
- Atarax is a tranquilizer available in tablet form. The main active ingredient is hydroxyzine hydrochloride. It has a sedative effect, eliminates phobias and anxieties. Used as a pill for mental disorders for teens and adults. It is effective for stopping anxiety, motor anxiety, psychomotor agitation, feelings of internal tension, increased irritability in case of neurological, psychosomatic diseases, and acute hangover and withdrawal symptoms in people with chronic alcohol dependence (the indications for the use of "Aminazine" are similar).
- Adaptol is a tranquilizer available in tablet form. The main active ingredient is mebicar. Effective with fears and phobias in children and adults. It can be used both independently and as an adjunct in the treatment of diseases accompanied by psychomotor agitation, a feeling of internal tension, irritability, and adaptation disorders.
Myths About Antidepressants
Antidepressants are probably the most extensive class of pills for mental disorders. Almost every person has heard about these “cures for bad mood”. And many tested their effect on themselves. Hundreds of thousands of people around the world thanks to the action of antidepressant pills were able to rejoice every day of their lives and overcome the eternal apathy, fatigue and unwillingness to exist.
Alas, there are a lot of rumors about these drugs. That antidepressants are addictive, that they provoke oncology, that after the course, patients commit suicide. All these speculations are most often not based on anything.
Yes, the instructions for use for many antidepressants in the column of contraindications really indicate thoughts of suicide. That is, if the patient already had such thoughts, then taking pills can reinforce the idea that such a solution is true.
That is why the unauthorized use of antidepressants is unacceptable. These pills for mental illness can only be taken under the supervision of an experienced psychiatrist. In a pharmacy without a prescription, such tablets will not be sold.
Indications for the use of antidepressants:
- depression of various origins;
- obsessive-compulsive disorders;
- anxiety disorders;
- some obsessive states;
- bulimia.
Antidepressants: a list of the safest and most effective drugs
Psychotropic drugs with an antidepressant effect can be divided into several groups:
- tricyclic ("Amitriptyline", "Imipramine", "Clomipramine", "Tianeptine");
- tetracyclic ("Mianserin", "Maprotiline");
- serotonergic ("Citalopram", "Sertraline", "Prozac", "Fluoxetine");
- MAO inhibitors ("Moclobenide");
- specific serotonergic (Milnacipran).
The most prescribed and relatively safe (with a minimum list of side effects and contraindications) are the following antidepressants:
- "Fluoxetine" - has a mild stimulating effect, reduces appetite, increases resistance to life's adversities, improves the psycho-emotional state.
- "Zoloft" - has a sedative effect, at the beginning of administration it has a stimulating effect on many patients. Compared with Fluoxetine, it is more calming (it sometimes resembles Aminazine in action, the instructions for use confirm this). When taking Zoloft, patient control is necessary, since the drug has a rather different effect on each person.
- "Stimuloton" has a mild stimulating effect, while it is able to exert an anti-anxiety effect, to alleviate the severity of phobia and paranoia.
The principle of action on the psyche of nootropics
Nootropics are the most harmless class of psychotropic drugs. Many of them can be purchased at the pharmacy, even without a prescription from a psychiatrist.
Nootropics have a positive effect on cognitive functions. They are able to stimulate learning, memory processes, increase brain resistance to various adverse factors (in particular, to hypoxia) and extreme stress.
However, they do not have a direct stimulating effect on mental activity. In rare cases, against the background of therapy with nootropics, the patient develops unreasonable anxiety and sleep disorder.
List of the most effective nootropics
Tablets with a nootropic effect, which are prescribed for adults, children and adolescents to stimulate cerebral circulation and improve cognitive functions:
- pyrrolidone derivatives (Piracetam, Phezam);
- cyclic derivatives, GABA (Pantogam, Phenibut, Aminalon);
- acetylcholine precursors ("Deanol");
- pyridoxine derivatives ("Pyritinol", "Riridoxin");
- drugs of neuropeptide action ("Vasopressin", "Tiroliberin", "Cholecystokinin");
- antioxidants (Mexidol).
Almost any of these drugs can be purchased at every pharmacy without a prescription, since they are not included in the list of potent drugs.
Many of the above drugs are used in the treatment of children from mental retardation, with a moderate delay in psycho-speech development. Psychiatrists often prescribe nootropics for suspected early childhood autism, with manifestations of schizophrenia in children and adolescents. If therapy with nootropics alone does not produce an effect, drugs with a neuroleptic or tranquilizing effect are added to the treatment.
Many nootropics have proven to be an effective tool in preventing the progression of senile dementia.
Nootropics can effectively resist the development of toxic encephalopathy in drug addicts and people with alcohol addiction.
It is worth being extremely careful with unauthorized admission: nootropics have quite a few contraindications and in some cases can provoke acute psychotic conditions (if the patient is predisposed to this). In this case, you will need emergency care for mental disorders to stop psychosis.
Use of stimulants in psychiatry and consequences
Psychostimulants are antagonists of antipsychotics. If antipsychotic drugs, roughly speaking, contribute to the appearance of a “vegetable” state in a patient, then stimulants make a person unnaturally awake. He does not want to eat, sleep, relax, he can concentrate. But there is always a desire to move, dance, play sports.
Side effects with the use of psychostimulants:
- tremor;
- euphoria;
- insomnia;
- unmotivated aggression;
- headaches;
- signs of psychomotor agitation;
- hyperhidrosis;
- dry mucous membranes;
- anorexia.
List of prescription psychostimulants:
- phenylethylamine derivatives (Sibutramine, Methamphetamine);
- Sydnonimine derivatives ("Sydnocarb");
- heterocyclic ("Ritalin");
- derivatives of purines ("Caffeine").
In some cases, psychostimulants can cause physical and psychological addiction to use. This is one of the few classes of psychotropic substances that addiction can actually develop to.
Without a prescription from a doctor certified by a seal, it is impossible to purchase any of the psychostimulant drugs at the pharmacy.
The use of normotimics in psychiatric practice
Normotimics include funds that regulate affective manifestations and have a prophylactic effect in affective psychoses that occur in phases. Some of the drugs of this class have anticonvulsant properties, which makes them suitable for use in epilepsy and other diseases accompanied by seizures.
Normotimics can be divided into two classes:
- metal salts (lithium carbonate);
- combined group ("Carbamazepine", "Valpromid", "Sodium valproate").
Preparations based on lithium salts are effective for depression of various origins, anxiety and paranoid disorders. They have quite a few side effects: most often it is tremor, the development of paroxysmal pain in the abdominal region, impaired urine outflow, can trigger the development of sexual dysfunction in men.
It is forbidden to combine the use of drugs based on lithium salts with alcoholic beverages and alcohol tinctures ("Corvalol", "Valoserdin").