The general public has a different idea about medications. Some people believe that medications are somehow against the "natural order" of things and disturb how the body is supposed to function. They are fine with herbs, supplements, and foods used as medications. But they have a problem with pharmaceutical preparations standardized, refined, and produced under governmental supervision, to strict standards. Some people believe that prescribed medication is needed in order to recover from any illness. Some people treat medication as magical. Lots of people use medications in a haphazard fashion neither knowing what the medication is for nor how it works. They take medications not prescribed for them and combine them with other medications. They take medications when they remember to do so or when they have what they think are a symptom the medication will fix.
I grew up in a rather unique environment. My adoptive father was a pharmacist trained in plant medication and compounding or making prescription medications from plants. I worked in his pharmacy for many years. I have a medicinal herb garden in my yard. So I'm certainly not opposed to medicines from herbs or plants.
I think when people know about prescribed medications they have a better understanding about what the medication is for, how it is used and how they are supposed to take it. I don't think plant medicine or herbal remedies are intrinsically better than pharmaceutical medicines, and in some cases because of the lack of oversight in preparation and inconsistency in potency they can be much worse. I had a physician mention echinacea as a treatment once. So I asked what part of the plant was he recommending. Roots or flower? Did he suggest E. Purpurea or some other variant of the plant like E. Angustifolia or E. Pallida? All of these are Echinacea. All of them I have grown. Pretty plants. Very poor research on their impact on the immune system. There are multiple ways to prepare them. He didn't know. He also couldn't advise on dosage. I suggested he stick to pharmaceuticals or commercially prepared herbal products. I gave him an E. Purpurea and an E. Angustifolia flower.
A man recently asked me about a medication he had "borrowed" from his wife which helped with some symptom he was having. "Borrowing" medication from someone else is a very poor practice. The medication is prescribed to a specific person for a specific symptom or for a property of the medication. In this case the reason the medication was effective was because of an unusual side effect of the medication. Trying to get the medication prescribed by his doctor meant that the medication wasn't being used for it's general purpose but instead for a side effect it has. Unless the physician combed medical research journals to find the side effect and the fact that the medication has been linked to treatment for this condition the physician wouldn't be likely to think it should be used. There are 4 or 5 classes of medications that can be used to treat the condition. One is available over the counter very inexpensively. The pharmaceuticals can be very expensive, and their use is based on side effect properties.
Health psychologists can provide information to both physicians and patients about why something is working. We have a background in research. We can provide extensive information to patients about medications and how they work, how to take them, and systems to improve medication compliance. We can provide information on interactions with foods, over the counter preparations, the impact of taking someone's medication and use of complementary and alternative treatments.
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