Mental Health Medications

In addition to psychotherapy (also called “talk therapy”) medications can play a critical role in treating certain mental disorders.  These medications are capable of affecting the mind, emotions, and behavior and are referred to as “psychotropic medications”.  They include:

  • Antidepressants – used to treat depression.  The most popular types of antidepressants are called selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs). 
  • Anti-Anxiety Medications – help reduce the symptoms of anxiety, such as panic attacks, or extreme fear and worry. The most common anti-anxiety medications are called benzodiazepines. 
  • Stimulants – stimulants increase alertness, attention, and energy, as well as elevate blood pressure, heart rate, and respiration.
  • Antipsychotics – medicines which are primarily used to manage psychosis. The word “psychosis” is used to describe conditions that affect the mind, and in which there has been some loss of contact with reality, often including delusions (false, fixed beliefs) or hallucinations (hearing or seeing things that are not really there). 
  • Mood Stabilizers – used primarily to treat bipolar disorder, mood swings associated with other mental disorders, and in some cases, to augment the effect of other medications used to treat depression. 

Source – Edited and excerpted verbatim from – National Institutes of Mental Health – “Mental Health Medications” – accessed on 3.28.2021 from 

https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/topics/mental-health-medications/index.shtml

New Dawns Counseling Services is affiliated with Horizon Healthcare, Inc. (“Horizon Healthcare”) and American Telepsychiatry, a provider network of Nurse Practitioners, Psychiatrists, Addictionologists, and Physician Assistants who are experienced in the administration and management of psychotropic medications. Horizon Healthcare has agreed to assess and provide psychotropic medications to New Dawns Counseling Services clients who need may need such medicines.