by Dr. Deborah Bauers

Created on: December 18, 2009   Last Updated: March 15, 2010

For many individuals with a severe mental health issue, psychiatric medications offer the only opportunity for successfully managing the mood swings, deep depression, and psychosis that are often its associated symptoms. Those who take psychotropic medications depend upon their health care providers to guide them in making an informed choice while being made aware of the potential for unwanted side effects such as an increased risk of suicide. Sadly, not every patient receives the information necessary to know what to do if he experiences new and often frightening thoughts of taking his own life.

Every individual's chemistry is different and no two people react exactly the same way to a prescribed drug. For example: You may be given a medication designed to help level out your mood swings but experience, instead, increased agitation or sadness. Though this happens in less than a fraction of a given population, it can occur. And if you unknowingly take two drugs simultaneously that do not work well together, their interaction could result in an unpleasant or even life-threatening consequence.

Though revelations about potentially serious side effects can be frightening, it is important to keep them in their proper perspective. Used appropriately and under careful supervision, psychiatric medications do treat even the most severe mental disorders. They reduce and, in some cases, eliminate the mental anguish that is associated with these illnesses. If you are taking a psychiatric medication, it is extremely important for you to educate yourself about its potentially serious side effects. By using a guide to help you better understand how to use psychiatric medications safely, you can take the necessary steps to discontinue any drug before it threatens your life.

Antidepressants are sometimes linked to an increase in feelings of agitation and/or hopelessness that can lead to thoughts of suicide. Within the last decade there has been concern over whether this class of drugs can place children and adolescents at greater risk for suicide. The most recent studies, however, reveal that when an antidepressant is used alone, it can actually help to prevent adolescents from being re-hospitalized for depression. Studies also suggest that risks associated with additional hospitalizations for depression increase when multiple psychiatric drugs are used to treat simultaneously.

Amphetamines are a class of drugs frequently used to treat Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder.

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