Although this belief has partially diminished due to the steadily increasing number of psychiatrists who practice psychotherapy, it still maintains its place in public discourse. After diagnosing disturbances in a patient’s thoughts, emotions, attitudes, and behaviors, a psychiatrist determines which treatment method the patient will benefit from (medication, medication + psychotherapy, or psychotherapy alone) and implements the appropriate treatment model.
Some psychiatrists who do not personally provide psychotherapy may refer patients they deem appropriate to another psychotherapist. When evaluated within this framework, it becomes clear that the belief that every psychiatrist always or only prescribes medication to every patient is incorrect.
The notion that psychiatrists constantly prescribe medication to all of their patients is persistently kept on the agenda by certain circles. While there may be many reasons for this perception, one of the most important is the insufficient understanding of the field of psychiatry.
Indeed, it is observed that reactions against psychiatric medications are generally not as intense as reactions toward medications prescribed in other branches of medicine. Although it is acknowledged that the science of psychiatry still has a long way to go in fully understanding how the human brain functions, the existing scientific knowledge cannot be disregarded.
Some of the knowledge gained about how we think and how we experience emotions shows that, in certain cases, symptoms can be alleviated solely through pharmacological treatment. Psychiatrists frequently encounter this reality in their professional practice.
The belief that many psychiatric symptoms can be corrected by individuals on their own merely through thinking often does nothing more than delay patients from seeking professional help. Therefore, the belief that “PSYCHIATRISTS ALWAYS / ONLY PRESCRIBE MEDICATION” is a false one.
The accurate statement should be: “PSYCHIATRISTS PRESCRIBE MEDICATION WHEN NECESSARY.” This is because psychiatrists, as medical doctors, never lose sight of the famous principle of Hippocrates—one of the leading figures of medicine—“Primum non nocere” (“First, do no harm”) when examining and treating each of their patients.