Medication Management

Behavioral Health located in Glendale, AZ

Medication often plays an integral part in successfully treating mental health and behavioral disorders. Annalyn Rasul, PMHNP-BC, and Amber Nassif, FNP-C, of Cactus Serenity Integrated Health Services, are highly skilled mental health professionals with an in-depth knowledge of psychiatric medicines. Their expertise in psychopharmacology and medication management ensures you take the most effective drugs and suffer minimal side effects. Call Cactus Serenity Integrated Health Services to learn how you could benefit from medication management or request a consultation using the online booking feature today.

What is medication management?

Medication management focuses on using medications to treat patients with mental health disorders. These medications include:

Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs)
Serotonin-norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors (SNRIs)
Neuroleptics (antipsychotic medications)
Mood stabilizers
Anticonvulsant medications
Tricyclic antidepressants
Monoamine oxidase inhibitors (MAOIs)
Anti-anxiety medications such as benzodiazepines
Stimulants

Psychopharmacological drugs act on the chemicals in your brain. Sometimes, the exact way they work isn’t clear, but many affect your neurotransmitters. These brain chemicals, which include serotonin and dopamine, help create links between the neurons (nerve cells) in your brain. Low levels of these neurotransmitters can severely affect your mood.

Some drugs use differing mechanisms to treat the same disorder. For example, SSRIs, MAOIs, and tricyclics are all depression medications, but they work in different ways. A skilled psychopharmacologist uses their knowledge to prescribe the drugs that are most likely to improve your condition.

Is medication management essential?

Medication management is a vital element of many patients’ treatment for mental health conditions.

Drugs can reduce the severity of your symptoms, so you get more benefits from therapy. For incurable conditions like bipolar disorder and schizophrenia, medications are essential for successfully managing your condition. However, all medicines present certain problems that require expert medication management.

What issues does medication management address?

One issue medication management addresses is effectiveness. Finding the drug and dose with optimal effects for each patient can be challenging, as everyone responds differently. For example, some people with depression find an SSRI like fluoxetine to be highly effective. For others, the drug has little or no effect.

Using their psychopharmacology knowledge, the Cactus Serenity Integrated Health Services team manages your medications to achieve the best possible results. They may try a different dose, change to an alternative class of drug, or combine several medicines.

Another problem is the side effects. Any drug can have adverse effects in addition to its benefits. Some are more of an annoyance or inconvenience, like getting a dry mouth when you’re on lithium. Others can be intolerable or even dangerous. Your provider aims to minimize medication side effects.

Call Cactus Serenity Integrated Health Services or book an appointment online today to benefit from regular medication reviews.

Medication often plays an integral part in successfully treating mental health and behavioral disorders. Annalyn Rasul, PMHNP-BC, and Amber Nassif, FNP-C, of Cactus Serenity Integrated Health Services, are highly skilled mental health professionals with an in-depth knowledge of psychiatric medicines. Their expertise in psychopharmacology and medication management ensures you take the most effective drugs and suffer minimal side effects. Call Cactus Serenity Integrated Health Services to learn how you could benefit from medication management or request a consultation using the online booking feature today.