Most people with a mental illness would be lost without their day-to-day medications. Whether it is an antipsychotic drug, a tranquilizer or an antidepressant, the symptoms of most mental illnesses are managed with medications.

1. www.arizonamentalhealthhelpline.com
Study: Behavioral Therapies Work Better Than Opioids in Managing Pain of Mentally Ill
Most people with a mental illness would be lost without their day-to-day medications.
Whether it is an antipsychotic drug, a tranquilizer or an antidepressant, the symptoms of most
mental illnesses are managed with medications. Apart from the psychological impediments
that arise when regions in the brain associated with memory, speech and emotions fail to
function in sync or when the neurotransmitters go haywire, most people living with a mental
disorder also experience pain on a regular basis.
A recent research
highlights that opioid
prescriptions are
discharged in alarming
numbers to those
suffering from mental
disorders. The
researchers suggest
that improving pain
management for
people with mental
health problems “is
critical to reduce
national dependency
on opioids.” According
to the study titled
“Prescription Opioid Use among Adults with Mental Health Disorders in the United States,”
adults with some form of mental ailment are receiving more than 50 percent of the 115
million opioid prescriptions given on an annual basis in the United States.
The study findings, published in the Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine, also
revealed the startling fact that while nearly 19 percent of Americans with a mental health
ailment were habituated to prescription painkillers, only 5 percent of those without any
mental health condition were on opioids. The study used the nationally representative
Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS) to examine the relationship mental health
ailments, especially anxiety and depression, and prescription opioid use.
Pain is often misunderstood and overprescribed
The nature of pain is not yet understood. The International Association for the Study of Pain
defines pain as “an unpleasant sensory and emotional experience, associated with actual or
threatened tissue damage, or described in terms of such damage." In the absence of objective

2. www.arizonamentalhealthhelpline.com
tools to diagnose mental disorders, most physicians have to rely on their own experience and
interpretation of an illness as well as patient’s self-reported symptoms.
While talking about this anomaly in the sensory perception of pain, especially with respect to
those living with poor mental health, Dr. Brian Sites, an anesthesiologist at Dartmouth-
Hitchcock Medical Center in New Hampshire and one of the study researchers, says, “Since
(pain is) a subjective phenomenon, it’s very difficult to measure those things and treat them
because some patients (report) 10-out-of-10 pain forever.”
The researchers expected that physicians would practice discretion. But unfortunately most
physicians are quite liberal in prescribing opioid medications to the mentally ill. According to
Dr. Sites, this is resulting in significant morbidity.
As per Dr. Edwin Salsitz, an attending physician in the division of chemical dependency of
Mount Sinai Beth Israel Medical Center in New York, though opioids are primary treatment
for pain, mentally ill patients start believing that the drugs alleviate their mental issues. This
pushes them into a vicious cycle of addiction and abuse.
Dr. Andrew Saxon, director of the addiction psychiatry residency program at the University of
Washington, is of the opinion that in most instances drugs neither provide lasting relief nor
improve everyday functioning. They just provide a subjective gratification of reduced pain.
The situation gets grim as those addicted to opioids to treat pain develop a co-occurring
mental disorder, which further deteriorates their overall health.
Road to recovery
Saxon, who is also the chairman of the American Psychiatric Association’s council on
addiction, gives more importance to behavioral interventions and alternate therapies rather
than being dependent on opioids. He also suggests that teaching people to understand the
root cause of the problem and develop coping skills is more effective in the long run. The
study serves as a reminder that it is important to empathize with the person living with a
mental health condition instead of washing hands of by prescribing medications. The aim
should be to improve patients’ overall quality of life rather than putting them at further risk.
If a loved one is suffering from any mental health and you are looking for good mental health
centers in Arizona, the experts at the Arizona Mental Health Helpline can provide relevant
information. You may call our 24/7 helpline number (866) 606-7791 to know about various
customized therapeutic recovery programs available at some recognized mental health
treatment centers in Arizona.