When taking medication to treat schizophrenia (and all other medications) it is worth being aware of the issue of the benefit-cost balance of taking the medication.
Every drug is used because it cures or brings about an improvement in some disease. Antipsychotic drugs treat the symptoms of psychosis in schizophrenia and largely prevent relapse. Hypertension drugs normalise blood pressure and prevent its complications (such as heart attack, stroke). Insulin controls blood glucose levels and prevents complications of diabetes. And so it is with regard to many drugs. The element of benefit, of gain for the patient from taking the drug, must always be present.
For some people, the cost of treatment may be higher than usual. For example, some strong side effect of the drug occurs. If this is the case, the medication should be changed but treatment should not be stopped. Fortunately, doctors have a number of drugs available for treating schizophrenia and other psychoses and if any one drug gives an unfavourable balance of benefits and costs of treatment, you can try to swap it for another.
Sometimes some people only see one side of the topic being discussed here - that is, only the side of the costs, side effects, limitations associated with treatment. Then they see only part of the whole treatment picture. It is fundamental to see the whole picture. It is necessary to see and understand why the doctor is recommending the medication (how dangerous the disease itself can be, the behaviour during the course of the disease and its consequences for the family, for life, for the treated person himself). Medicines are not recommended by doctors for no reason. They are recommended because they treat a serious and sometimes very dangerous illness for the patient and those around him. It is worth seeing what the medication gives, what it avoids, what the benefits of taking it are. It is only by assessing the overall picture of the benefits and costs of treatment that it is possible to conclude that it is better to be treated and lead as normal a life as possible than not to be treated and to be ill.
Historically, people who were treated were more accustomed to bearing the costs of treatment. One may recall that the old medicines had to be bitter. Thus, the person was reconciled to the idea that he was being treated, that the treatment might be 'not good' but that he was getting health for the cost. Nowadays, various medicines and syrups have a raspberry or vanilla flavour. This is certainly a good thing, better than having them be nasty. This approach to treatment also communicates to the person being treated that treatment is supposed to be "easy, nice and pleasant". Sometimes this can be the case but not always. Sometimes the cure in some literal or figurative sense has to be 'bitter' because another has not yet been invented.
So simply focusing on side effects or other ailments associated with a treatment is a one-sided attitude. It is worth asking myself and others - what am I gaining if I take medication, what would I be if I did not take it?
The article comes from the 4th issue of Finding Your Way (click to download GCFF)
