Women are the great consumers of psychotropic drugs. The labs that produce them direct all their advertising load to us because they know that we are two thirds of the population that use tranquilizers.
In studies on the prescription of psychotropic drugs, it is concluded that the ratio between women and men prescribed tranquilizers has always been two to one, that is, twice as many women as men take psychoactive drugs.
The figures show that among women between the ages of 18 and 29, 12% had used tranquilizers, among those between 30 and 44 years, 21%; among those between 45 and 59 years old, 22% and the figure rises to 25% among those over 60 years of age. The problem of medicalization becomes more acute as women advance in age.
Tranquilizers and psychotherapy sessions
- Tranquilizers are part of the new therapeutic practices that aim to affect the mental health of women. The psychoactive drugs to which I am referring are also called psychotropics. They act on the central nervous system to produce effects that alter mental states, especially emotional ones, and therefore produce changes in behavior. They are appreciated by patients for their two main effects: sedative and stimulating. The most used by women are those that act as tranquilizers.
- The function of a psychologist is to listen to the patient’s discomfort so that together they can understand the problems and seek strategies to deal with them. The joint search for the well-being of the person through words and listening. These spaces for dialogue and reflection are psychotherapy sessions and self-help groups. The prescriptions for psychotropic drugs are part but not the whole of therapy and we women, who are the first to ask for tranquilizer prescriptions, have to become aware of this