The flipped classroom as a key tool in higher accounting training

Abstract

This research analyzes the effects of psychotropic drug use on people diagnosed with schizophrenia, bipolar affective disorder, and severe depression treated at the Guayaquil Psychiatric Hospital between 2018 and 2021. Using a qualitative methodology with a narrative approach, the testimonies of 25 patients were collected. They stated that, although the medications help control the symptoms of their disorders, they also generate a significant emotional burden and a sense of coercion that negatively impacts their daily lives. The results reveal that prolonged use of these drugs produces adverse effects in various areas, such as physical, cognitive, and social deterioration, and fosters sustained dependence on medication. Furthermore, the predominance of the biomedical model in the current psychiatric approach is questioned, which tends to reduce mental suffering to a neurochemical imbalance, neglecting social and contextual factors that are fundamental to understanding psychological distress. This reductionist view, focused exclusively on pharmacological treatment, contributes to the medicalization of mental health and limits the implementation of more comprehensive therapeutic strategies. In this sense, the study concludes that, while psychotropic drugs are useful tools for clinical stabilization, their indiscriminate and prolonged use can reinforce dynamics of institutional control and generate higher levels of subjective suffering. Therefore, there is a need to promote more humanized, multidimensional models of care oriented toward the comprehensive well-being of the patient, recognizing the importance of social, emotional, and cultural factors in mental health recovery processes.