More people taking prescription drugs for mental illness than ever...but is it necessary?

[Seymore]

It really seems to bother people that mental illness is now treated as often as physical.

 

Thanks to the politicians who stepped up and made it happen!

 

 

Thank them when we become a world of walking zombies and healthcare costs go through the roof because everyone's on them.

 

Comparing physical illness to mental illness is like comparing a potato to an orange. The mind is a much more serious subject and should be treated as one. You get a headache, you buy Excedrin. Messing with the mind, however, is a dangerous thing.

 

It bothers me that mental illness is treated as often as physical when no mental illness is present. You break a bone, you know you broke a bone. Doctors can't examine you mentally as thoroughly as they can X-ray your body or take a blood test.

 

Some of you are taking this awfully personal, and I don't understand why.

[Miss Firecracker]

Why is the mind a much more serious issue than the body? I think they are equally fascinating.

[COtuner]

It really seems to bother people that mental illness is now treated as often as physical.

 

Thanks to the politicians who stepped up and made it happen!

 

There's a difference between mental illness and just dealing with life. My mother is mentally ill, Severely so. She needs better pills than the ones she is on because I worry she will kill herself or someone else one day. She had a brain injury and has been degenerating every since for the last 15 years.

 

On the other hand, people worried about losing their jobs do not need a pill. They need to work on their budgets, network, reumes, skills, etc. Happy pills do not keep you employed. My personal opinion as someone who has gone through some EXTREMELY hard times in life and have NEVER taken a drug to help with it.

[Seymore]

THANK YOU. And I also want to add that it doesn't have to be a physical thing like going and getting a gun - COTuner's examples are also what I mean.

[Miss Firecracker]

There's a difference between mental illness and just dealing with life. My mother is mentally ill, Severely so. She needs better pills than the ones she is on because I worry she will kill herself or someone else one day. She had a brain injury and has been degenerating every since for the last 15 years.

 

On the other hand, people worried about losing their jobs do not need a pill. They need to work on their budgets, network, reumes, skills, etc. Happy pills do not keep you employed. My personal opinion as someone who has gone through some EXTREMELY hard times in life and have NEVER taken a drug to help with it.

 

Congratulations to you. I wouldn't want to judge you and hope you won't judge me because I do take them. My husband is currently unemployed and he also doesn't take the "happy pills".

[Seymore]

Why is the mind a much more serious issue than the body? I think they are equally fascinating.

 

Ask Stephen Hawking. Ask a quadrapalegic.

[Miss Firecracker]

Ask Stephen Hawking. Ask a quadrapalegic.

 

 

I was asking you. But that's ok if you don't want to answer.

[Seymore]

That was my answer - and it's the same point: Because without a functioning body the mind is still valuable, full of ideas and thoughts. Without a functioning mind the body is no good.

 

And because I know someone's going to get sensitive I have to clarify, by a functioning mind, I mean functioning as in your nervous system works, you can think and speak. I'm not saying that someone with an illness does not have a functioning mind.

[paintedfish]

The very first day I went to the psychiatrist, she labelled me Social Anxiety Disorder and OCD, and had me try out prescriptions. The next time I saw her, I was GAD and OCD. The next, I had psychotic symptoms and depression, and was then Bipolar and OCD. Then, when that didn't fit, meds for Schizoaffective!

 

But the REASON this was wrong, is because she never let me talk. She started throwing pill after horrible pill at me, and each WEEK I'd see her, I'd try to get in some more symptoms, that were ongoing, and she'd change her mind. Finally I was able to tell her about my big problems, and she prescribed a very heavy duty medication that put me to sleep 16 hours a day. I went off it by myself, and besides the random panic attack or delusion, I'm fine. That isn't Schizoaffective, or Bipolar, or anything else. Also, no one took into account that I was depressed because my boyfriend of 2 years dumped me and his little brother was killed, I had social anxiety because I was depressed, didn't leave my house, and became agoraphobic, etc, etc. It was all situational, and I'm proof of it now because I'm fine.

 

On the other hand, I met a man recently who was diagnosed as Schizophrenic, but before that he had NO idea something was wrong. It took him getting arrested to get psychoanalyzed. Medication gave him a normal life again, and he was such a sweetheart when I met him. But back again, his cousin was sitting there next to him saying "and I know I'm bipolar. I get real angry sometimes, and real sad sometimes." I asked him a few symptoms of mania, and he had none. IE, PROBABLY not Bipolar. But he wouldn't mind it if he was. I think people who really DON'T know what a mental disorder is like, want one, will fabricate or exaggerate one, and some doctors are so eager to push pills on people with problems, people begin to think their problems are out of their control, and are just brain chemistry.

 

 

 

No one here is saying that every one on medication was faking. Thank god for certain medications that have given people back their normal functions and lives. It is a blessing that we are past the age where a child with ADHD would be spanked by the dean every day, or that a schizophrenic would be locked away in an abusive, hellish asylum. However, along with miracles comes a catch, and the catch now is people see it as an easy way out of feeling bad. It makes them feel special, removes guilt, and dangles the carrot of a "quick fix" in front of their noses.

[dragon lady]

I'm completely done with prescription drugs for mental health. All they did was make me more sick. As for other people, I don't really care what they do. Most people don't stay on this stuff for very long anyway. My biggest concern out of all this is the number of prescription drugs that have been found in the water supply. Hormones, anti-anxiety, blood pressure meds, antibiotics. You name it, it's in there. The more people taking this stuff, the more it's going to keep being pumped through everyone else. Sorry, I know I've gone off track but I think this more important.

[Seymore]

That hit the nail on the head to me, especially the last paragraph. Thank you.

[Seymore]

I'm completely done with prescription drugs for mental health. All they did was make me more sick. As for other people, I don't really care what they do. Most people don't stay on this stuff for very long anyway. My biggest concern out of all this is the number of prescription drugs that have been found in the water supply. Hormones, anti-anxiety, blood pressure meds, antibiotics. You name it, it's in there. The more people taking this stuff, the more it's going to keep being pumped through everyone else. Sorry, I know I've gone off track but I think this more important.

 

Maybe I'm being a bit naive, but are you serious? In the water supply? I need to look into that. How long has it been going on?

[dragon lady]

Maybe I'm being a bit naive, but are you serious? In the water supply? I need to look into that. How long has it been going on?

 

There's a ton of information out there about this. You can check out the EPA for more info. Here's one article for the lazy folks-

 

link removed

 

It says that there is no evidence that they are harmful, but I laugh at that.

 

edit: oh, and not just psycho drugs, but the hormones are the one that concerns me:

 

"Concern among scientists increased when fish in the Potomac River and elsewhere were found to have both male and female characteristics when exposed to estrogen-like substances, she says. For instance, some fish had both testes and an ovary, she says."

[renaissancewoman101]

I am still on the fence when it comes to meds to treat the psyche. I take an anti-anxiety med which although it has helped my anxiety TREMENDOUSLY, I also feel it has taken my personality away. Yes, I am less anxious, jumpy, worried, etc., but I feel out of it most of the time. I sleep more and just feel drugged up in a way, which is not something I like. I feel like part of my personality is gone and causing me to withdraw from people again.

 

Not sure if this is what I want either. I sometimes would rather take the anxiety than this legarthy and sluggishness.

[Miss Firecracker]

On the other hand, I met a man recently who was diagnosed as Schizophrenic, but before that he had NO idea something was wrong. It took him getting arrested to get psychoanalyzed. Medication gave him a normal life again, and he was such a sweetheart when I met him. But back again, his cousin was sitting there next to him saying "and I know I'm bipolar. I get real angry sometimes, and real sad sometimes." I asked him a few symptoms of mania, and he had none. IE, PROBABLY not Bipolar.

 

Sounds as if he wanted to make a connection to his ill cousin. I once told my son I think I have autism, even though I haven't been diagnosed with it. I do have a few of the traits that go along with it, such as sensitivity to lights, sounds and touch. It seems to make him feel better that we have that in common.

[COtuner]

Congratulations to you. I wouldn't want to judge you and hope you won't judge me because I do take them. My husband is currently unemployed and he also doesn't take the "happy pills".

 

I don't judge people - not my place in life. However, I do think there needs to be better criteria out there for diagnosing mental illness and better training given to doctors with prescription authority. I can get a Valium prescription with the snap of a finger, and that's scary. I tested my doc once by just saying, "Man, my job is a lot of stress. It is hard to wind down at night.... maybe I should get some Valium for a while". He started writing me a script on the spot. I stopped him and said no, I can work on this naturally.

 

I've watched coworkers go on these pills for stress and it screws up their lives. They can't stand life without a pill anymore. Most have put on 20-40 pounds as well.

[Seraphim]

Funny, I could never get one even in my darkest days when life was a living hell. No one has offered help of ANY kind, other than "just deal with life" So, not every dr just hands out medications.

[Crazyaboutdogs]

I agree with you that pills are often being pushed on people whose emotional issues are more environmental than biological. The world we live in now is tough..people are alone and isolated even when they have others around them. Nobody wants to listen, nobody wants to care, and everyone is out for themselves so that people get trampled on, abused, toyed with, stabbed in the back etc. Happens at work, happens amongst partners, happens amongst family, happens amongst friends. All of these dramas and stresses cause the emotional problems and there is nobody to talk to except for the professional therapists who charge an arm and a leg (therefore causing financial stresses heaped on to everything else). The easy way out are pills...the legal and acceptable way to alter a person's mood rather than using alcohol and illegal drugs. The increase in prescription of ritalin and pills for mood alteration and depression has more to do with the kind of cold society we live in that people feel unwanted, unloved and stressed.

[Seraphim]

THIS is the big factor today. NO ONE CARES. If people learned how to care for humanity more this would help a lot.

[Nixee]

Funny, I could never get one even in my darkest days when life was a living hell. No one has offered help of ANY kind, other than "just deal with life" So, not every dr just hands out medications.

 

This is true... not every doc is like that, just like not every person is black, or white or tall or fat or whatever.

 

That is what makes discussions like this difficult... there is no "rule", and it is hard to make generalizations.

 

I've personally encountered mostly docs who have been very quick to hand out medications, and I've definitely seen how the marketing world has been saturated with prescription medication advertising, which is a scary thing to me.

 

But then, I also know of a time when my older brother was injured and in serious pain, yet for the life of him could not get a doc to give him enough vicodin to take care of him because they seemed to assume he was just an addict trying to get a fix

[Miss Firecracker]

Funny, I could never get one even in my darkest days when life was a living hell. No one has offered help of ANY kind, other than "just deal with life" So, not every dr just hands out medications.

 

I was thinking the same thing.

 

My son went to a doctor and told him he had anxiety. The doctor looked at him as if disgusted and said, "You don't seem anxious to me." About a year or so later he went into full manic psychosis and had to be admitted for a week to be stabilized." So there you go.

[Seraphim]

I was thinking the same thing.

 

My son went to a doctor and told him he had anxiety. The doctor looked at him as if disgusted and said, "You don't seem anxious to me." About a year or so later he went into full manic psychosis and had to be admitted for a week to be stabilized." So there you go.

 

Yes, I seem very put together on the outside and I am always everyone's rock. People neglect those kind of people saying " oh they are fine, arnt they SO helpful and solid.?" When those people then have an event in their life no one even thinks twice about helping them or that they might need some help. Which feeds into the ONLY care about yourself attitude that is so prevelent today.

[paintedfish]

No psychiatrist will be the same. They are human, and swayed by influences, have their own interpretations of their education, and do the best they can with information given to them.

 

This isn't black and white, at all, and some of the people who have illness in their families are taking this as a personal attack.

 

My brother had ADD, my great grandma was Schizophrenic, my grandma was an alcoholic, and my mom has depression and anxiety. I am well aware that there are people out there with real, life disrupting disorders. I understand how very very painful it is to sit by and watch your family member suffer from their own brain chemistry. I know what its LIKE to suffer from your own brain chemistry, and watch what it does to your family.

 

That being said, I have seen people on medications that do not need them. Its like AA's stance with being an alcoholic. One step is to admit they have no control. It takes away their guilt. A lot of psychologists disagree with this because it IS a choice, whether you have a genetic predisposition to become an alcoholic or not. I've been addicted to a substance before, I understand what its like to need something. But it is a CHOICE. Just like, SOMETIMES, depression is a choice. Not always. Don't quote me as saying always. Drugs for mental health issues are not to change your circumstances. They are not a cure all. They correct brain chemistry. To have depression fixed by a pill, it would mean you have the perfect life, and you are still depressed. So, bam, chemical imbalanced corrected, you're perfect again. People think popping a pill will fix their life. They don't recognize that THEY have to get up and move after that pill gives them the right chemicals. If you take Prozac, drink soda and eat chocolate all day, and never leave your bed, no... the Prozac won't help. It won't fix your diet, it won't get you a job, or friends, or an exercise plan. That's all you. I think that's the biggest problem behind medication at the moment, is people's view of it.

[Seraphim]

[/b]

 

So, VERY VERY true. Even though my father's brain chemistry was regulated by medication he still CHOSE to not have a life. That is individual though some once balanced do awesome. When a person can still not pick themself up even when medicated there is more at play there than a chemical imbalance.

[paintedfish]

I would say, the best thing I've found as far as diagnoses and medications go is... if you think there is something wrong, by all means see a therapist for it. Discuss it, learn about yourself, then if that doesn't work try medications. But don't stop questioning it. Get multiple opinions, get your life in order, identify your stressors, etc. Even if you DO have a mental illness, that will help.

 

Also, a weird little side note to you, Victoria. I've seen your posts about your son, and the troubles you go through WITH him. I just wanted to say he is SO very lucky to have a mother as loving and supportive and understanding as you. You have taken a very heartbreaking problem and flown with it. Its very heartwarming to see.