• Question: What treatment do you think is the most effective for mental health issues?

    Asked by anon-216135 to Robert, Olly, Nicola, Jasmin, Dennis, Caroline on 12 Jun 2019. This question was also asked by anon-216132, anon-216140, anon-216136, anon-216131.
    • Photo: Robert Dempsey

      Robert Dempsey answered on 12 Jun 2019:

      I think it depends on the individual and their experiences. Some people respond really well to medication as it helps to take the edge off their symptoms and helps them to function, other people find that meds have too many side-effects and make them feel worse or simply make them feel numb (I know many people with bipolar talk about how meds make them feel really flat). Similarly, I know some people who had a lot of benefit from psychological therapies like CBT… others have had really poor experiences. There is evidence to suggest that CBT tends to work better with people who aren’t experiencing very severe symptoms or who have recently been diagnosed with a condition. I used to be very anti-medication but I’ve softened my views as many people living with severe conditions have told me how useful their meds have been to help them manage day-to-day. Ultimately, I think we have to do what’s best for the individual and note that not all therapies work as well for everyone.

    • Photo: Dennis Relojo-Howell

      Dennis Relojo-Howell answered on 12 Jun 2019:

      Hi Chloe. It depends on the nature of the mental health and also on the person himself. Treatments can be either somatic (involve drugs) or psychotherapeutic (talking therapy). I prefer the latter.

    • Photo: Caroline Brett

      Caroline Brett answered on 12 Jun 2019:

      It really depends on the condition, the symptoms, and the person themselves. The best treatment is tailored to the individual and their own experiences, thoughts, and feelings.

    • Photo: Oliver Clabburn

      Oliver Clabburn answered on 13 Jun 2019:

      I think that treatments are really individual. Not just for the mental health issue, but for the individual person too. For example, one treatment for a MH issue might be a certain type of medication. While it might work for the majority of people, there may be some people it doesn’t work for at all. As such, another treatment/medication that doesn’t work for the majority of people, may work for this individual!

      Effective treatments are therefore any/whatever that works for the individual.

    • Photo: Jasmin Moon

      Jasmin Moon answered on 13 Jun 2019:

      As the others have said, it really depends on the person!
      With physical health treatments are a bit more predictable (for example if you have type 1 diabetes you will likely be taking insulin), but with mental health we seem to vary a bit more in how we respond to different treatments.
      Medication definitely has it’s place and can be helpful for lots of people but it can be seen as masking the symptoms and not really addressing the problem. Therefore, I think talking therapies (counselling etc.) should also be offered alongside medication.

    • Photo: Nicola Johnstone

      Nicola Johnstone answered on 13 Jun 2019:

      This defiantly varies from person to person. Luckily the nature of psychological care in the UK uses a stepped approach that allows different treatments to be tried out to find the best for the patient.

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