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'Psychiatric drugs are not addictive'

ABU DHABI — Psychiatric medicines prescribed for specific disorders are safe and do not cause addiction as some people wrongly believe, says a mental health expert.

"Most medications for mental disorders are safe and effective if consumed under a specialist's instructions. It is the personality of the patient that can sometimes result in turning these medications into addiction drugs", said Dr Tareq Abdullah Darwish, consultant psychiatrist at the Behavioural Sciences Pavilion at Shaikh Khalifa Medical City.

In an interview with Khaleej Times, Dr Darwish sought to dispel the misconceptions prevalent among people about psychiatric medicine saying "Classes of psychiatric drugs like anti-depressants, anti-psychotic and mood stabilisers are extremely helpful, safe and give desirable results if consumed according to doctor's instructions. The problem is the personality of the patient who is put under these medications. The doctor should observe and decide whether the patient has the ego strength to give up prescribed medicine when necessary."

On the most common mental health diseases in the country, Dr Darwish said, "In general the most common mental disorder among both nationals and non-national is the depressive disorder which has 36 types and is associated with many factors like the biological factor where persons who have the tendency to become depressed by nature." Bipolar disorder is another common ailment. "Depression is now stepping up among most diseases that lead to morbidity all over the world. It ranks the fourth worldwide and is expected to be number one cause of disability in 2020", cautioned Dr Darwish.

He said another prevalent psychiatric condition in the country, is the 'reactive depression' or adjustment disorder in which a person fails to adjust to a certain life condition.