Segment 7 - Treatment Adherence and the Issues of Nonadherence

All medical illnesses have issues with nonadherence and part of the reason is because the American health system doesn’t provide the right education, support, and close follow-up needed to get the right medicine to the right person, Wayne Katon, MD, said

Stuart Lustig, MD, followed up that when physicians write prescriptions, they often have to make a number of assumptions that could be incorrect, such as that the patient can afford the medicine and that the patient is comfortable with the idea of taking the medicine.

“There are lots of reasons why people are particularly leery of psychiatrics medications,” he said. “They certainly have a lot of stigma as they are portrayed by the media, for example, or by Hollywood over the years.”