BEHAVIORAL HEALTH

Bahman Sharif, M.D.

Q: I saw a mental health prescriber and she told me that in addition to taking the medication she prescribed, I needed to see a counselor. Do I have to?

A: Effective mental health treatment requires a well-functioning brain and lifeskills to cope with the day-today challenges of life. Over the past couple of decades, outcome research in mental health treatment has demonstrated that combination approaches (medication management and behavioral therapies) produce the best results and are most effective in relapse prevention. Medications help the brain to produce the necessary balance of neurotransmitters to function properly, they do not provide the coping skills and the “mind set” required to take on stressors. Therefore, the combining medication management and behavioral therapies is the most effective treatment for mental health conditions.

Many people complain that even though they are taking their medications as prescribe, they are still having the same problems and only notice minor improvements in their symptoms. We have a saying in psychiatry: “pills don’t give you skills.” Although psychotropic medications are highly effective in providing some of the biologically based symptoms such as low energy, lack of motivation, depressed mood, sleep and appetite disturbances, they do not provide relief from life stressors that individuals with mental health issues struggle with. Therefore, when the medication management and behavioral therapy are combined, they created what is known as a “potentiating effect” which basically means that the impact of the two is significantly greater than each one of the treatments by themselves. Therefore, when someone needs to be on psychotropic medication, the standard evidence based approach to treating mental health problems, is the combination approach.

If you are interested in a combination approach to therapy, please contact us. We worth patients to create a life worth living

Bahman Sharif, M.D. Psychiatrist and Medical Director Premier Behavioral

Health Service 8701 Mentor Avenue Mentor 44060 440-266-0770