Blue I believe the medication model is best when utilized alongside / as an adjunct with therapy. People may need that lift in mood to give them the motivation to attempt or think about trying therepeutic interventions. As I've stated beforehand and above, it really is subjective. On the topic of Benzos a lot of the people I work with regularly use them and of course they do help. There is a caveat though. You can become reliant on them and that in itself can for some become problematic. I try to discourage the people I care for from reaching for medication as a default solution to anxiety problems but as you have said Blue, therapy is hard to access. The one thing that REALLY concerns me is the side effect profiles of psychotropic drugs, lethargy, lack of motivation and frankly the detrimental effects they have on the quality of people's lives.
Found myself not to long ago attending a social services meeting trying to explain that the reasons a young lady s children were not attending school was not the attitude or poor parental skills she had, more a case of how her prescribed medication was for all intents and purposes, stupifying her. Unable to get out of bed in morning, unable to go shopping due extreme tiredness, basically struggling to function. The poor girl was when unwell, floridly psychotic but the very thing that eleviated her symptoms - anti psychotics - was having a devastating effect on her life hollistically. As ever when dealing with treating very poorly people, ethical issues are never too far away. Treat the psychosis but with a price at some juncture.
Trial and error but it's people's lives and you have to be very sensitive to people, and loved ones, needs. Fine balance required.
