The evidence-based guidelines for PTSD treatment include offering Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT) and Prolonged Exposure (PE) therapy. Medications (such as benzodiazepines) are not recommended because “there are no demonstrated benefits of these medications in treating PTSD. These medications have possible harmful side effects including the risk for addiction, overdose in combination with alcohol, and interference with benefits of some psychotherapies” (p. 78). Yet, when Schumm offered a choice of CPT or PE treatments to veterans either with our without medications, the veterans showed a similar bias as patients in general with only 30% preferring psychotherapy alone.  Schumm and his colleagues conclude that the best service psychologists can offer their clients is educational information about their treatment options.

Psychologists in all but three states in the U.S. (Illinois, Louisiana, and New Mexico) are not allowed to prescribe medications, so it’s not even an option for people outside these states to receive psychotropic medications directly from their therapist, assuming the therapist isn’t a psychiatrist.  However, the evidence cited by McHugh agrees with the majority of studies on therapy effectiveness showing the advantages of skipping the drugs altogether.

In a critique of psychiatry’s reliance on pharmacological interventions, (link is external) Professor of Clinical Psychiatry at Weill Cornell Medical College Richard Friedman, writes that “American psychiatry is facing a quandary: Despite a vast investment in basic neuroscience research and its rich intellectual promise, we have little to show for it on the treatment front.” Echoing the concern that we are an overmedicated world when it comes to psychological disorders, he notes that even the newer and supposedly better new drugs are no more effective than the old ones. Almost all (95%) of the federal dollars spent on mental health research go to drugs, not psychotherapy, in clinical trials.

the average person seeking help has tended to seek psychiatric drugs rather than psychotherapy. Antidepressants and antianxiety medications are among the leading prescription drugs not only in the US but around the world (link is external). We think nothing of getting a prescription filled for one of these psychotropic medications that we may obtain, without much consultation, from a medical professional.  However, you should be concerned that these drugs may not only fail to treat your psychological symptoms but can have a host of adverse side effects.

It would be a shame if the clients who stand to benefit from these services turned away from the psychological interventions that have the potential to help them. Psychotherapy is known to be an effective treatment for a wide range of psychological disorders.