Medications
Medications play a key role in treating mental health disorders alongside talking therapies. There are many forms of mental health medication and it may require some trial and error to find the right one to effectively treat a specific disorder.
What types of mental health medications are there?
There are a wide range of medications used to treat different mental health disorders. These medications are often grouped by the conditions they are intended to treat, though they are often used interchangeably between disorders depending on the patient's specific needs.
Antidepressants
Antidepressants are one of the ubiquitous forms of mental health disorder medication groups. Antidepressants are widely used in the treatment of mood disorders such as major depressive disorder but are also used in the treatment of symptoms of other conditions, such as positive symptoms of schizophrenia. Widely used antidepressants include:
- Trazodone (Desyrel)
- Sertraline (Zoloft)
- Amitriptyline (Elavil)
- Escitalopram (Lexapro)
- Fluoxetine (Prozac)
Antipsychotics
Antipsychotics are predominantly only used to treat mental health disorders that have symptoms of psychosis or mania. These conditions include schizophrenia, delusional disorder, brief psychotic disorder, and manic symptoms in conditions like bipolar.
Antipsychotics include:
- Amisulpride (Solian)
- Thiothixene (Navane)
- Mesoridazine (Serentil)
- Fluphenazine (Decanoate)
Anti-anxiety
Anti-anxiety medications are also widely used in treating mental health conditions. They often fall under the drug class benzodiazepines, mood enhancers that can relax brain function and reduce stress in the body.
Anti-anxiety medications include:
- Alprazolam (Xanax)
- Bupropion (Wellbutrin)
- Chlordiazepoxide (Librium)
- Diazepam (Valium)
- Lorazepam (Ativan)
Anticonvulsants
Anticonvulsants are mostly used to treat epilepsy, alcohol withdrawal symptoms, and spasmodic symptoms of other conditions. While these medications mainly treat physical symptoms, they can help alleviate uncomfortable or intrusive symptoms of mental health conditions such as schizophrenia or physically manic symptoms of delirium.
Anticonvulsant medications include:
- Carbamazepine (Tergretol)
- Ethosuximide (Zarontin)
- Phenytoin
- Lamotrigine
Other
As well as the above medications, there are a wide range of mental health disorder medications used to treat specific symptoms of multiple conditions. These include central nervous stimulants that are used to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and others used to treat acute dystonic reactions (involuntary muscle contractions).
Other medications include:
- Benztropine
- Vigabatrin (Sabril)
- Trihexyphenidyl (Artane)
- Dextroamphetamine
- Propranolol (Inderal)
Author
Ethan CullenEthan studies Politics and Philosophy at the University of Oxford and writes online content alongside his university work. He believes that raising awareness about mental health issues is one of the best ways to help those in need.
Published date: 29 November 2022, Last edited date: 29 November 2022
This page does not offer medical advice. See more
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