Psychology: Pharmacotherapy and Pharmacokinetics - Free Paper Sample

Introduction

The process through which psychiatrists use pharmaceutical drugs to address mental disorders is known as pharmacotherapy. The drug compounds are absorbed, distributed, metabolized, and excreted after being administered to the body through a time course that is known as pharmacokinetics. Absorption, in that case, is the uptake of the compounds in the intestines to the blood circulatory system. Distribution is the process through which the drug compounds are circulated in the body.

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Metabolization

Metabolization is the process through which the drug compounds are processed in the liver to form in which they can be useful in the body. Finally, excretion is the process through which the drug compounds are removed from the body after serving their purpose. Medical professionals use a group of medications known as psychotropics to treat or manage the mental health of their patients (Daniel et al., 2001). Professional mental health counselors should play the role of liaison between the patient and the prescribing doctor to ensure compliance and adherence by their clients who are on psychotropic medication.

Liaising

Liaising is one of the core duties of a professional mental health counselor. In their role description of a mental health professional counselor, South Coastal Health and Community Services (2017) outlined liaising with internal and external organizations, individuals in the planning process as one of the individualized support services offered by such professionals. Based on that description, professional mental health counselors can ensure compliance and adherence by clients on psychotropic medication by collaborating with the doctor who prescribed the drugs. According to Dixie Meyer, who is an Assistant in the Department of Counselling and Family Therapy at St. Louis University and a member of the American Counselling Association, the regular interaction between counselors and their clients places them at a better position for monitoring their patient’s adherence to medication (Shallcross, 2012).

Conclusion

The ratio of people suffering from mental health is on the rise, and mental health professionals are always looking for new ways to treat mental health and improve on current ones such as pharmacotherapy. Liaising by mental health counselors is needed to ensure the success of such methods that rely on pharmaceutical drugs.

References

Daniel, W. A., Wójcikowski, J., & Palucha, A. (2001). Intracellular distribution of psychotropic drugs in the grey and white matter of the brain: the role of lysosomal trapping. British journal of pharmacology, 134(4), 807-814.

Shallcross, L. (2012, July 1). Client, counselor, prescriber. Counseling Today.
https://ct.counseling.org/2012/07/client-counselor-prescriber/#

South Coastal Health and Community Services. (2017, July). Mental health professional counsellor role description.
http://southcoastal.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/Counsellor-Mental-Health-Role-Description.pdf.