ABSTRACT
This chapter describes how the pharmacology of mental illness and medicines used to treat mental illness affects the symptomology and side effects a service user may experience. Insomnia is a symptom of many mental health illnesses. Ensuring adequate treatment of any underlying comorbidity is important to prevent the need for additional treatment for insomnia. Anxiety presents as a mixture of psychological, physical and behavioural symptoms. It can generally be divided into: generalized anxiety disorder, panic disorder, social phobia, specific phobias, post-traumatic stress disorder and obsessive– compulsive disorder. Benzodiazepines belong to a group of medicines called anxiolytics. They are indicated for the short-term relief of severe anxiety. Antidepressants are a group of medicines used to treat affective disorders, particularly moderate to severe depression associated with psychomotor and physiological changes. They should not be used in mild depression, as the treatment of choice in mild depression is psychological therapy.
