Medication Compliance Becoming Bigger Problem

HealthyPlace Mental Health Newsletter

Here's what's happening on the HealthyPlace site this week:

• Medication Compliance Becoming Bigger Problem
• Postpartum Depression: Worries Over Stopping Treatment
• Using Social Media to Help Prevent Suicide
• How Much Help Should A Parent Give A Child?
• Mental Health Experiences
• Most Popular HealthyPlace Articles Shared by Facebook Fans
• From HealthyPlace Mental Health Blogs
• Your Thoughts: From the HealthyPlace Forums and Chat

Medication Compliance Becoming Bigger Problem

A large, growing number of people are not taking their medications the way they're supposed to. A 2011 Consumer Reports survey indicates a whopping 48% (up 9% from the 2010 survey) of the participants regularly cut back (pill splitting) or skip the prescribed dosage. Many don't get the entire prescription filled.

Medication compliance for people with mental illness has always been a problem. People stop their psychiatric medications due to side-effects or because when they start to feel better, they mistakenly think the medications are no longer needed. Part of the solution to those problems may be better doctor-patient communication.

We have a new problem though. It's called the prolonged and severe economic recession or depression. People simply can't afford their medical or psychiatric medications. They're taking these steps to save money. Yes, pharmaceutical companies do help qualified low-income individuals to receive discounts or free medication. Now, however, there are no many people who have lost their jobs or who are underemployed, even middle-income folks can't pay for their medications.

Unfortunately, there are no easy solutions to this problem. Getting samples from the doctor only lasts for so long.

Medication Compliance Stories on HealthyPlace.com

• Medication Non-Compliance Huge Issue for People with Mental Illness
• Bipolar Medications Adherence: Here's How to Help (helpful for all disorders)
• Bipolar Treatment: Medications Compliance
• Medication Compliance and Children
• Medication Compliance is a Hard Pill to Swallow

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Most Popular HealthyPlace Articles Shared by Facebook Fans

Here are the top 3 mental health articles HealthyPlace Facebook fans are recommending you read:

1. What is Postpartum Depression?
2. What Do I Tell My Partner About Panic?
3. Disagree with Your Doctor? Respectfully Explain Why

If you're not already, I hope you'll join us/like us on Facebook too. There are a lot of wonderful, supportive people there.

From HealthyPlace Mental Health Blogs

Your comments and observations are welcomed.

• Fashion Fundamentals For The Wacky (Funny in the Head: A Mental Health Humor Blog)
• The Difference Between Stigmatizing Mental Illness and Labeling it (Recovering From Mental Illness Blog)
• Bipolar Disorder: Can You Trust What You Feel? (Breaking Bipolar Blog)
• This Bipolar Girl is Ready to Date...But Who? (Relationships and Mental Illness Blog)
• Your Family and Mental Illness: Can Happiness Return? (Mental Illness in the Family Blog)
• How Does Someone Become an Abuse Victim? (Verbal Abuse and Relationships Blog)
• Treating Anxiety: What the Body Knows (Treating Anxiety Blog)
• "Why Don't You Just Eat?" - Educating People About Eating Disorders (Video) (Surviving ED Blog)
• Right, Wrong, and Children with Psychiatric Illness (Life with Bob: A Parenting Blog)
• Importance of Motivation in Addiction Recovery (Debunking Addiction Blog)
• 3 Top ADHD Medication Pitfalls and How to Avoid Them (Living with Adult ADHD Blog)
• Making a Relationship Work When You Have Mental Illness (Mental Health for the Digital Generation Vlog)
• ADHD: It's 4am. Do You Know Where Your Mind Is? (Addaboy! Adult ADHD Blog)
• Loving the Hidden You: BPD and Self-Acceptance (More Than Borderline Blog)
• "Don't Call Dissociative Identity Disorder a Disorder!" (Dissociative Living Blog)
• I Survive Bipolar Disorder - I Can Do Anything + Video
• The Relationship "Comedy" of Mental Illness
• Recovering from Chronic Mental Illness: Reconciling With Relapse
• Looking For Light When All Feels Dark During Eating Disorder Recovery
• Isolation Common for Parents of Children with Psychiatric Illness
• Who's Hiding Behind Your ADHD?
• How To Tell Lies

Feel free to share your thoughts and comments at the bottom of any blog post. And visit the mental health blogs homepage for the latest posts.

Postpartum Depression: Worries Over Stopping Treatment

After stopping their antidepressant medication, some mothers with postpartum depression experience a return of depression symptoms. Our guest, Misty, did. But it dissipated after she started the antidepressants again. Her big fear? "Am I dependent on antidepressants?" Watch this week's HealthyPlace Mental Health TV Show. (Postpartum Depression: Worries Over Stopping Treatment - TV Show blog)

Using Social Media to Help Prevent Suicide

Many people, feeling suicidal, reach out on Twitter and other social media for help. Sandra Kiume, aka @unsuicide, provides suicide prevention resources. We discuss the need for services like this on this edition of the HealthyPlace Mental Health Radio Show. Listen to How Do You Prevent Suicide?.

If you know of anyone who can benefit from this newsletter or the HealthyPlace.com site, I hope you'll pass this onto them. You can also share the newsletter on any social network (like facebook, stumbleupon, or digg) you belong to by clicking the links below. For updates throughout the week,

• follow HealthyPlace on Twitter or become a fan of HealthyPlace on Facebook.

back to: HealthyPlace.com Mental-Health Newsletter Index