Mental Health and Pain Pills

It is widely agreed that opiates are being over-prescribed in the United States. Over 115 million opiate prescriptions are written to patients each year. Out of this number of prescriptions, over 50 percent are written for people who have a diagnosed mental health disorder. This surprised researchers who had assumed mental health patients would be receiving less of these prescriptions.

Out of the 43.5 million people diagnosed with a mental health disorder, 19% are prescribed prescription opiates on a regular basis. Only 5% of the population without mental health disorders are on some type of opiate prescribed regularly to them. This may be due to physical symptoms caused by mental health conditions like depression and anxiety disorders. These disorders can cause extreme discomfort and manifestations that a person may perceive as pain. Patients with mental health issues find opiates relieve many of the symptoms from their disorder.

The director of the addiction psychiatry program at the University of Washington said studies have shown most people with chronic pain who end up on opioids do have a co-occurring psychiatric disorder. To reduce opioid prescriptions nationwide, these people should be detoxed from their prescriptions and the underlying mental health disorders addressed.

We as a nation need to find alternative treatment options for people with and without mental disorders. The tendency of our culture to often is to solve problems with a pill or medication without really addressing the issues of what someone is going threw and finding a real solution. Regularly the easy way out is take of just putting someone on long term medication.

This happens with people of all ages. Life can be beautiful and pain free without being on medication. If your loved one is struggling with prescription abuse call us today.