Good Reasons To Keep Taking Your Medication
by Jane Collingwood.
Published at Psych Central October 19, 2006

The Joy Of Compliance

This brief (nine paragraph) essay by Jane Collingwood, a freelance writer specializing in health issues, provides a useful, easy to read summary of the central principles associated with adherence as an independent determinant of wellness, i.e., the notion that those who adhere to treatment accrue health benefits beyond the value of the medications or other prescribed therapy.¹

Some of the most significant pertinent research is described with full citations given. The tone of the article is positive without crossing over into hyperbole and unwarranted optimism based on hopefulness instead of scientific evidence.

My only quibble is over the title, “Good Reasons To Keep Taking Your Medication,” which seems to imply that the multiplicity of advantages enjoyed by those who are, by their nature, “healthy adherers,” will also befall those whose adherence is learned behavior, a premise that, as far as I can determine, has not been tested, let alone proved.

This article is worthwhile as an introduction to the concept of the Healthy Adherer for healthcare professionals, and its clear, jargon-free prose makes it ideal for readers from outside the field.

Footnotes

1. See AlignMap post, Adherence As An Independent Marker Of Decreased Mortality [back]

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