The pills of happiness

Spain is at the forefront of the consumption of psychotropic drugs, understanding these as drugs that act on the brain producing psychological effects.

We are above the European average in terms of consumption of anxiolytics and benzodiazepines. Anxiolytics, antidepressants and sleeping pills are prescribed without thinking too much about their possible side effects and without considering, as a first option, going to psychotherapy.

• Related article: "Types of psychoactive drugs: uses and side effects"

Why is this happening?

There are multiple associated factors that explain the medicalization of psychological well-being, including its low cost economical, hovering between 1 and 3 euros per box of some of these medicines, their cost having decreased in the last years.

On the other hand, it is very easy to access psychotropic drugs, it is enough that the doctor at the health center prescribes them, that is, it is not necessary for a mental health professional to do so. That this prescribes them can be very simple if people report symptoms that can be similar to anxiety, depression and insomnia in the majority; however, it is most likely that we are not talking about depression, but rather sadness, and that we are not talking about a pathological anxiety or that, even if it were, this problem could be solved with psychotherapy.

But, and we enter the third reason... how is a doctor going to refer a person to psychotherapy when there are hardly any psychologists in Social Security? Specifically, there are 4 psychologists and 6 psychiatrists for every hundred thousand inhabitants. The doctors therefore they are almost forced to prescribe them to offer some "solution" to the patient.

The concept of happiness pills

On the other hand, the almost obligation to be happy and to find ourselves, at all times, well must be met. Therefore, when the person feels sadness, nerves, he goes through a duel... he notices that something is not right within himself and that he has to take a pill to "cure" him. But what if going through that sadness, feeling anxiety, mourning a loss... is it healthy, necessary and adaptive?

Stress, frustrations or pain are less and less tolerated, so the person seeks the immediacy of the drug; however, in this way, we may be diminishing our coping abilities.

It is also necessary to talk about the normalization of these consumptions. In few families there is no member who consumes psychotropic drugs, it is something very normalized, which is a clear factor that affects this increase in consumption.

unhealthy lifestyles

Stress and our poor sleep hygiene combined with an increasingly worrisome use of technology, cause the increase in medications to fall asleep, despite the fact that it has been shown that they help to sleep but not to rest, generating a feeling of heaviness and apathy in the person that is rarely taken into account before consuming them.

The problem of overdiagnosis

Another relevant factor is the tendency to overdiagnosis. and medicalization in our society, which we can see in the new versions of the DSM, in the medicalization of minors with psychoactive drugs, etc. All this heavily influenced by the interests of the pharmaceutical industry.

What can be the consequences of taking this type of drugs?

First of all, dependency can be generated. The addiction to psychotropic drugs is increasing, being these among the drugs that are currently creating the most addiction.

Most psychotropic drugs create physical dependence, that is, the consumer's body will show symptoms of withdrawal syndrome when consumption is stopped. And, on the other hand, psychological dependence arises: the brain gets used to this substance and will demand greater amounts, being able to reach the point of not being able to fall asleep or function on a day-to-day basis without these pills.

If we are prescribed a pill that we take when we are nervous and another when we are sad, what happens if we are nervous or sad and we don't have it? That it is likely that we feel that we are not able to face that discomfort.

Adverse side effects must also be taken into account.. Although in the short term anxiolytics can reduce our symptoms (antidepressants need weeks to develop their effects), in the short and long term they can have very considerable secondary adverse effects .

On the other hand, as we mentioned, anxious or depressive symptoms, among others, can be reduced, but it does not solve the problem in question, and we do not put ourselves at risk. work on it and on the focus of the problem because it reduces these symptoms and makes us believe that the problem has been solved, and it is likely that it will return appear.

• You may be interested in: "Addiction: disease or learning disorder?"

Conclusion

At Mariva Psicólogos we believe that, although it is true that psychotropic drugs may be necessary, especially when we talk about severe psychopathology, We must be careful when using them. and ask ourselves if going to psychotherapy and betting on our mental health, even if it requires more personal effort, is more beneficial. If medication is required, our psychologist will recommend it, and we can combine pharmacology and therapy.