How Pharmacists Can Support Patients with Mental Illness
By Dwi Prasetyaning Rahmawati (published 11/10/21)
This article is part of the International Pharmaceutical Federation (FIP) Young Pharmacists Group publication for World Mental Health Day 2021.
Every 10th of October, we celebrate World Mental Health Day. It was first started in 1992 as an annual activity of the World Federation for Mental Health by the then Deputy Secretary-General Richard Hunter. It initially aims to promote mental health advocacy and educate the public on relevant issues. Nowadays, celebrating World Mental Health Day is important, not only as pharmacists but also as people who need to raise awareness about mental illness to our family and colleagues that mental issues are not a “bad” thing to talk about. That it is not a curse, or incurable, and despite all the social stigma, it can be manageable and controlled into stable conditions. In the article, we will talk more about what we can do as pharmacists to help patients with mental illnesses.
As pharmacists, we need to pay more attention to patients' mental health. In 2017, a study estimates that 792 million people lived with a mental health disorder[1]. It means that from 10 people, it could be 1 of them that live with mental disorders. World Health Organization (WHO) stated that there are different types and presentations of mental disorders, including a combination of abnormal thoughts, perceptions, emotions, behaviors, and relationships with others. This data should trigger pharmacists, as healthcare workers, to incessantly improving the quality of service for patients with mental health disorders.
Community pharmacists play a significant role in initially recognizing the symptoms of patients with a mental health disorder, to help them manage their medication adherence[2]. In the United States, one in six people is estimated using psychotropic medications for problems relating to mental illness[3].
Due to the high prescription of psychotropics, community pharmacists must be equipped with good communication skills to inform the patients about the medication they took or will be taking. Additionally, pharmacists should monitor the efficacy, also possible side effects through screening and observation, monitor the possible drug interaction if the patients also have other diseases.
Since psychotropic medications are usually used for a long time, adherence of the patients must be well managed, either by the patients themselves or the caretakers. Educating society about the social stigma surrounding mental health issues is also as crucial as managing the disease.
Not only in community settings, but pharmacists can also support patients with mental health in any field of their practice. Through collaboration with other healthcare workers and continuous education to patients and society, pharmacists should be able to support patients with mental issues to receive and access good quality care for their treatment.
References
[1]Saloni Dattani, Hannah Ritchie and Max Roser (2021) - "Mental Health". Published online at OurWorldInData.org. Retrieved from: 'https://ourworldindata.org/mental-health' [Online Resource
[2]Moore, Catherine H; Powell, Brandon D; Kyle, Jeffrey A. “The Role of Community Pharmacists in Mental Health”. US Pharm. 2018;43(11):13–20. https://www.uspharmacist.com/article/the-role-of-the-community-pharmacist-in-mental-health
[3] National Institute of Mental Health. Mental illness. November 2017.
