Discussion Post: Medications
One of the important things to consider is this fact: Every substance put on or in the body has the potential for side effects. Side effects tell you that something is in/on your body that is outside of homeostasis and alerts you to check it out and determine how to get rid of its toxic effects or learn to live with it. Side effects range from unnoticeable to extremely difficult to manage. Your role as a counselor is to monitor those effects that your clients are experiencing and help them figure out how to wait them out or help them take back an important discussion of concern to their prescriber. It is not your role ever to tell your clients to stop using or modify the use of medication; those conversations are outside of your scope of practice and could cause grave harm to the client.
Remember, as clinicians, your work is much more than medication monitoring. You have a vital role in unearthing what the root causes of the mental health and substance use disorders are and in helping the client to address those causes and resulting consequences.
Respond to the following prompts.
a) What are the pros and cons of each site you chose?
b) Where does each site get its information?
c) What makes the site academic and reputable?
d) What did you notice was different about each site when you entered the same medication (e.g., diazepam) into each?
Be sure to support your postings and responses with specific references to the Learning Resources.
Reference
• Sinacola, R. S., Peters-Strickland, T., & Wyner, J. D. (2020). Basic psychopharmacology for mental health professionals (3rd ed.). Hoboken, NJ: Pearson.
o Chapter 2, "Basic Neurobiology"
o Chapter 3, "Psychopharmacology and Pharmacokinetics".