Decisions about antipsychotic medication

In the past you may not have been given much opportunity to discuss your feelings about taking medication. Nowadays, we think it is important that you understand why you are prescribed particular medications, and that doctors listen to your views about your treatment and take these into consideration.

If you have been recommended to take medication for months or years, then it is important that you are able to tell your doctor how the medication affects you, and to ask for changes in your medication if you feel these are needed.

Decisions about medication are complicated. Medications affect people in different ways. How they affect you depends on:

• the type of medication
• how well it works
• the type of mental health problems you have
• your situation.

We have developed a form to help you think about the positive and negative aspects of your medication.

Before filling in the form here are a few things that you may find helpful.

What to think about?

Here are some of the factors you might want to consider if you are taking antipsychotic medication:

• Does my medication reduce my symptom?
• Does my medication prevent me from relapsing?
• How bad are the side effects?
• Are the side effects interfering with my life?
• Which side effects bother me the most?
• Which side effects can I be prepared to put up with?
• What do I most want to achieve and is the drug treatment helping me to do that, or making it more difficult?

Depending on how the medication is affecting you, you might want to talk to your doctor about:

• Reading and discussing some relevant information.
• Keeping a diary of your side effects and symptoms.
• Considering one of the possible courses of action above after discussing with people close to you.
• Changing to a different drug (for example if you have side effects that could be reduced by switching to another drug).
• Lowering your dose (for example if you have severe side effects).
• Increasing your dose (for example if you still have severe symptoms).
• Stopping your medication (if you feel that the medication is harming you more than it is helping you). 

It will be down to your doctor to decide what to prescribe for you, but your doctor will take your views into account.

What helps and/or prevents people from feeling involved in decisions about their medication:

• These are some things that might help you:

  • Being well-prepared (eg having questions / concerns listed in advance).
  • Being clear about how medication impacts on you (eg collating information about good and bad effects of medication to take to a consultation).
  • Being able to make sense of information you are given.
  • Feeling confident to raise concerns / ask questions.
  • Being given time to consider options if necessary.
  • Talking through your concerns with a sympathetic person in advance of a consultation.
  • Talking to a Health Advocate about your medication.

• These are some things that might prevent you:

  • Not feeling confident.
  • Not feeling that it is your role.
  • Feeling scared of the consequences of expressing an opinion that is different from your doctor’s.
  • Not feeling like they have enough time to ask questions / raise issues.
  • Not being sure how to express your worries.