Newsletter
Overprescribing in Psychiatry2025-08-25
“And yet for aught I see, they are as sick that surfeit with too much as they that starve with nothing. It is no mean happiness, therefore, to be seated in the mean."”
—William Shakespeare
Why are most patients ending up on long-term medications, on high doses, and/or on multiple medications? Side-effects and drug interactions increase in a non-linear fashion.
There are mundane commercial reasons, as well as fundamental scientific reasons for that.
The commercial reasons are that (especially new) drugs are being advertised and promoted, leading to a bias to prescribe them. Long-term treatment, with higher doses, of multiple medications, are lucrative for pharma companies. They are also lucrative for doctors-if the patients have to return regularly for checkups and adjustments.
The fundamental scientific reasons are two-fold: a good one, and a bad one. The good reason is that most complex disorders have many genes and biological pathways involved, and targeting them with a combination of medications may be necessary. The bad (and all too common) reason is that there is a mismatch between what the patient should be on and what they are prescribed. That leads to lack of efficacy, escalation of dose, and adding of additional medications.
In our work at MindX Sciences, we found that when patients are matched to the right medications for them (by our MindX One Liquid Biopsy), they do well, and require lower doses, of fewer medications. They need to be seen less often. And if they use our full stack of solutions, and layer also aggressive lifestyle improvements (Life x Improve Digital Optimization) and psychological boosting (Life x Mind App), they can eventually reduce or even wean themselves off medications. The intent is to be curative, so people can move on with their lives, and be seen just for annual routine exams.