How can we increase the motivation of psychiatric patients to take their medication?

  Many family members say, “We have paid so much for his medical care, but why doesn’t he understand and why doesn’t he take his medication?  The patient thinks, “I’m not sick, so why should I take medicine?  One of the effective ways to resolve this conflict is to involve the patient in the development of the treatment plan, that is, “shared decision-making.  For example, some people will directly tell the patient, “You have schizophrenia, you must take this medicine. If you put it another way, “Don’t you always feel that someone is bad-mouthing you, that someone is trying to hurt you? Take Risperidone, you will not hear others say you”, so will not be better accepted some?  2. Tell him about the possible side effects of the drug and how to deal with them. This way, even if there are side effects of the drug, but because the patient already has a good idea of what to do, he knows how to deal with it, who should be called, to reduce the situation of sudden discontinuation of drugs due to side effects.  3, the use of drugs on the patient, be sure to seek his own views, after all, the disease in his body, ask the patient’s feelings after taking the drug.  In short, strengthen communication, let the patient himself and his family participate in the treatment decision, tell him the advantages and disadvantages of different treatment options, and respect the patient’s right to know and the right to decide. After all, the subject of treatment is the patient.