The Pros And Cons Of Psychotherapy

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The dispute between psychotherapy and medication has been on the rise and was debated for decades. Many people with mental illnesses may turn to psychiatric drugs instead of psychotherapy, because they are uneducated and unaware of the effectiveness of therapy and its benefits. Psychotherapy is an alternative way to treat mental illnesses rather than to use harsh medication that may potentially cause more harm than good in the long run. Medication on the other hand are just prescribed pills that just temporarily bandage the problem rather than heal it There are many cases in which proves that therapy is more effective opposed to medication in helping patients with mental illnesses such as depression, anxiety and phobias. According to Dr. Charles Nemeroff, patients with childhood trauma such as a loss of a parent at a young age or physical/sexual abuse do not respond well to antidepressants compared to psychotherapy. 48 percent of patients with a childhood trauma "achieved remission" with the use of therapy alone but only 33 percent even responded to an antidepressant. Dr Charles Nemeroff also conducted through tests, that using both, antidepressants and therapy together, didn 't have a significant greater outcome of just using …show more content…

Medication ultimately has more disadvantages than advantages including the fact that medication may become addictive and a patient may become completely dependent on it. While psychotherapy on the other hand, definitely has more pros than cons, including the certainty that therapy is safer, could help improve the illness and has long lasting effects. Whether a person is suffering with social anxiety, depression or phobias, therapy would definitely be their best bet. Psychotherapy works with the patient in hope to slowly but surely improve their illnesses and allows a patient to be in control of their own life without needing to be permanently treated. Therefore psychotherapy is a more profound way to treat mental

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