Psychiatry: An Industry Of Death

I know I was on Depakote for my epilepsy when I was younger. I didn't have many major side effects other than drowsiness and occasional nausea. But the same medication is used to treat Bipolar, depression, any number of things. And some of the side effects I have read about it I was rather lucky. I could have gotten pancreatic disease or I could have spiraled into depression.

Luckily, my petit mal epilepsy had cleared up and I have not taken it since fifth grade or around there. Though I do wonder about the long term effects of it sometimes but it's not such a big concern for me.

I did go to therapists and counselors both for the epilepsy and my rather severe social anxiety. I have never had a problem with them. I still do have fears every new semester being in classes with new people. But that usually lessens around the 3rd week. I just let my instructors know ahead of time in an e-mail with the therapist's number for verification. If I need to, I can leave the class if I feel overwhelmed.

 

The bottom line is that you can't guarantee this. I don't think it's logical to say a psychiatrist "wasn't helping enough" simply because a patient developed a tolerance to the drug before he/she is cured (and I'm not explicitly referring to long-term medication). You can't place thresholds in these areas where you can conclude "if I'm still on these drugs three months from now, then my psychiatrist isn't helping me the way he/she should be", because once again, you can't predict if and when a person will develop tolerance to a drug.

And before the rebuttal of "then the patient just doesn't want to be cured" comes into the picture, consider that everyone is different and their road to recovery is unique and independent from everyone else. Just because a particular individual took an entire extra year to recover from their depression than someone else did, that does not mean they desired to be cured any less than the person who recovered quicker.

 

I still think the lesser problems should be cured in less then a few years, and if the dose isn't stupid, then there's no time for tolerance there.

But I get your point. Still, if the psychiatrist knows his job then there's not much risk.

 

Minor symptoms in most cases vanish within 48 hours of medication, and a decent improvement can really be seen. The big issue really is finding a way to prevent tolerance.


The whole point to keep in mind really is that so far this is the best treatment that there is to offer for clinical neurological disorders. And seeing as neuropharmacology is still in it's early stages there's a great deal of improvement needed.

 

The fact that it was made by scientologists just screams bias. Rejecting psychiatry is in their religion.

But, yeah, some shrinks are quacks and too quick to give diagnosis and give too much meds. My former psychiatrist, Dr. Kulkarni is proof. Though, I've never told anyone, I think I may have aspergers. I was diagnosed with ADHD, and given Zoloft... No change. Now, I've been off the meds for about 3 years, and I'm feeling very good and not depressed at all. I listen in class (relatively... I mean, who LIKES school? Well, I love French class, but...), I have a kinda active social life (well, I have friends at school, but I'm not popular. I wear glasses and I'm quiet unless spoken to... then I can be VERY talkative), my grades have been soaring through the roof (except math... I hate math), and I've shown a great interest in linguistics.

 

I want to be a psychologist.:locked2:

 

If it was made by Scientologists, it all makes sense. I've seen a lot of religious zealots bash psychiatry and psychology, as well as neurological fields too often saying things are just 'in the head' and illusory. In some cases, I agree that people are just being nutty for attention. However, in others, they are very serious and I have no idea how these people can be so blind as to not be able to tell it. I remember when Brooke Shields spoke out about postpartum depression and that it really messed up her life until she went to get treatment and felt much better and also didn't lose her family. Tom Cruise said a winning line on Oprah that later he apologized for, but it was in effect that she should not be taking medication and to get off it before it ruins her, and not to advertise it to others.

For a group of people that believe in a story that would take me to be on an acid trip to even start fathoming, they should leave psychiatry alone.