The quest for a quick fix
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The quest for a quick fix

Fred Ruddick Senior lecturer (mental health), University of Cumbria

Does the growing vogue for rapid solutions to complex problems extend to mental health? Fred Ruddick argues that consumers are too willing to seek answers in medication marketed by eager pharmaceutical companies, with significant implications for mental health nurses

When mental health professionals offer therapy to alleviate mental distress, patients take a leap of faith in assuming the professionals know what they are doing. Therapies, especially those that involve highly potent drugs such as antidepressants, anxiolytics and antipsychotics, may be accepted as scientific, evidence-based treatments for well-recognised, substantiated mental illnesses.

Mental Health Practice. 12, 4, 29-31. doi: 10.7748/mhp2008.12.12.4.29.c6860

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