Peter Gotzsche
Over the past few years, several scientific studies have revealed the harmful effects of psychotropic medication. The same theme is raised again by the Danish physician Peter Gotzsche.
A professor at the University of Copenhagen and one of those who helped found Cochrane (a network of scientists investigating the effectiveness of treatments), has just released the book “Deadly Drugs and Organized Crime – How the pharmaceutical industry corrupted healthcare” (Bookman Publishing company).
Recently translated into Portuguese, the work has caused a stir in the medical community.
Psychotropic drugs have done a lot of harm to patients and can become even worse when they try to stop them because of withdrawal symptoms, but psychiatrists often deny this.
They learned from the pharmaceutical industry that they should never blame the drug, but the disorder.
A worrying issue for the general population but especially for that group of people who are unaware of such information and insist on asking for medication to alleviate anguish, anxiety, stress... The issue here is very simple, there is a need to resort to psychotropic drugs in situations of serious and chronic nature, but in cases where they start with only a few emotional imbalances, nothing more sensible than going to the psychologist and asking for their help in order to understand the emotional imbalance felt.
The information existing between the relationship psychology and madness/crazy is still very stigmatized, that is, a wrong idea was created about who is going to see a psychologist. Only those who are crazy, insane, impaired…. etc. This is a lie. Psychology is the scientific study of the mental processes and behaviour of human beings and their interactions with the physical and social environment in which the patient exposes their difficulties in a frank and free way, as well as remembering and addressing painful memories of their life story.
Based on theoretical knowledge of psychological development, psychotherapists formulate interventions (interpretations, reformulations, confrontation, etc.), which help the patient to become aware of the origin of their problems and to elaborate and deal with painful situations in a more adaptive way. past or present of the patient's life. In this way, psychotherapy promotes changes in behavior and increased self-knowledge, leads to greater personal and social adaptation and increases inner freedom.
There are different types of psychotherapy, which differ in terms of the goals to be achieved, which can range from strengthening adaptive defense mechanisms and promoting growth through the reinforcement of positive aspects of the personality, to focused behaviour changes and even reorganisation of the personality structure itself. Psychotherapies can also vary in terms of frequency of sessions and duration of treatment. The frequency is agreed between the patient and the psychotherapist, according to the patient's needs. Generally speaking, sessions are biweekly, weekly or fortnightly.
This presupposes informing contemporary society of the dangers they run when initiating or maintaining psychotropic treatments without first consulting a psychologist/psychotherapist.
Psychotherapy solves different psychopathological clinical situations, namely, mood and anxiety disorders and personality and behaviour disorders. It can also be applied to a variety of clinical situations in which emotional distress and difficulties in adapting to life occur, namely, developmental crises, grief and divorce.
Psychotherapy is an enriching experience that promotes personal, emotional and relational development, so it can also be useful for those who want to increase self-knowledge and reflect on themselves, their emotions and relationships.
Assertiveness and balance from a simple, coherent and innocuous attitude towards harmful chemical substances.