Posted: September 8th, 2022

Psychopharmacologic Approaches to Treatment of Psychopathology

Psychopharmacologic Approaches to Treatment of Psychopathology
Many bring up a discussion on Borderline personality disorder (BPD). Mayo and other resources do focus on psychotherapy as the main treatment.

What medications would you suggest adding if therapy does not work or as an adjunct?

How long would you wait to add a medication?

Are there any issues with using medications that can worsen the disorder?

Any research and discussions would be great!

Here is an interesting link that may help elucidate some questions:

https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/borderline-personality-disorder/diagnosis-treatment/drc-20370242

Psychopharmacologic Approaches to Treatment of Psychopathology
Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) is a disease that is associated with difficulty in emotional regulation. As such, BPD patients are bound to feel emotions for a more extended period and in an intense manner that is challenging to return to a stable state after an event that triggered the feeling. Based on the context of the condition, treatment measures vary depending on the severity, and patient’s variability, among other factors (Ripoli, 2013). As for the Mayo Clinic, the primary approach for treatment is psychotherapy.
Nonetheless, if the therapy proves to be ineffective or to add an adjunct, various medications should be added. The medicines are divided into four parts which are; antipsychotic agents, mood stabilizers, nutraceuticals, and antianxiety agents. Examples of drugs from each type of medication are as follows; trifluoperazine (Stelazine), olanzapine (Zyprexa), omega-3 fatty acids, and antiepileptics, respectively (Aragona, 2013). The administration and effectiveness of each type of medication depend on the predominant symptoms, the biological complexion of the patient, and the selected medicine.
The period in which a nurse practitioner should wait before allocating a particular type of medication depends on the nature of the condition for the specific patient. Some of the patients might be resistant to medicines despite the severity of their symptoms. In such a case, the enhancement of psychotherapy is inevitable. For other patients, both treatment approaches provide the intended results. Some treatment programs only offer medication as the optimal treatment approach. However, it might lead to the increased severity of the condition for the patient, which means that therapy must be included (Orsolini et al., 2017). Nevertheless, the use of medications for treatment is relatively useful, considering that it has been shown to stabilize harmful aggression as well as emotional disturbances rapidly. Besides, medications also treat some of the symptoms that have not reacted to psychotherapy.

References
Aragona, M. (2013). Philosophy of clinical psychopharmacology. Psychiatria Danubina, 25(1), 0-10.
Orsolini, L., Papanti, G. D., De Berardis, D., Guirguis, A., Corkery, J. M., & Schifano, F. (2017). The “Endless Trip” among the NPS users: psychopathology and psychopharmacology in the hallucinogen-persisting perception disorder. A systematic review. Frontiers in psychiatry, 8, 240.
Ripoll, L. H. (2013). Psychopharmacologic treatment of borderline personality disorder. Dialogues in clinical neuroscience, 15(2), 213.

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