Use Of Drugs To Treat Mental Illness Rockets In The U.S.

[UpInArms]

Source: DB Techno (Science and Technology News)

Boston (dbTechno) - The use of prescription drugs to treat mental illnesses has spiked among Americans.

A study was led by Sherry Glied of Columbia University in New York as they worked to study Americans and their use of these prescription drugs.

Data was taken from several large public surveys in the U.S., making for a very large data pool.

<snip>

Breaking it down, in 2006 there were 73% more American adults, and 50% more kids taking these drugs to treat mental illnesses.

This was compared directly to the use of the drugs by adults and kids in the year 1996.

Read more: http://www.dbtechno.com/health/2009/05/05/use-of-drugs-to-treat-mental-illness-rockets-in-the-us/

[pattmarty]

1. PHARMA.......$$$$$$$$

[Name removed]

4. Deleted sub-thread

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Deep13]

9. My anxiety also wasn't caused by pharmaceuticals. nt

[pattmarty]

10. I made no such insinuation. I had two responses to a simple.............

......equation. The pharmaceutical industry has had some great miraculous medications especially over the last 40 yrs. They have NOT been overseen by the FDA properly over the years either. There are drugs out there that SHOULD NOT have been approved (Celebrex for one). You have all sorts of "boner" pills and "painkillers" that have been pushed by the pharmaceutical companies. They need oversight, they need regulation, that's what my (not so confusing) statement was meant to imply. So Jesus, take a fucking break, if I was going to insult you or the other "poster" trust me, I definitely would have come up with something appropriate.

[Deep13]

11. Sorry, but all you wrote was "PHARMA $$$$$$$$$$."

That and the following posts and the context of constant promotion of natural quack remedies on this website by uninformed people made me a little defensive.

[hedgehog]

55. Arre you aware that even the best prostate surgery can cause nerve damage?

"Boner pills" are the equivalent of breast reconstruction, or even more important, IMO.

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

100. pharmaceuticals DO help mentally ill, mental illness is actually a physical prob in the brain

why people think it is evil to treat it chemically is beyond me.

So much better than the torture that was the treatment in the past.

Or blaming the patient.

[Sanity Claws]

2. Why does our society need so many antidepressants?

Also, why is there this perceived need for ADHD drugs? I think the increased use of these drugs point to the pressures and unnatural lives we live in the current American society.

[Deep13]

8. could be nt

[Javaman]

23. Quiet you! what did I tell you about looking at the big picture?

you want people to think or something?

[Revolution9]

30. anti depressants actually are linked with MORE suicide.

unless you are bi polar or schizophrenic there is no reason to touch "happy pills" they zombie-fy people and make some people commit suicide.

[uppityperson]

71. Huh, tell that to my father in law who was severely depressed and killed himself

Oh, wait, he's dead because he didn't have anti-depressants available where my spouse does!

And no, they aren't "bi polar or schizophrenic" either. Just clinically depressed.

[AlphaCentauri]

39. Because we are not free anymore

laws control our lives, debt, credit cards enslave us, propaganda tell us what to wear and how to dress, our necessities are driven by our consumerism..

[Sanity Claws]

47. This is what I'm getting at

Society requires us to be fully functioning 12 months a year, except for a two week vacation and occasional holiday. Our bodies and minds used to operate with the seasons, with a lull for recovery and introspection. I don't see how our bodies could evolve in the last century or so to adapt to such a radical change.

Our society requires us to spend 40+ hours a week at a job during which we use most of our limited energy. This means our energy to foster and grow relationships is depleted and our relationships gets only what energy is left over. Work depletes so much of our energy that we retreat into our homes rather than mingle with others in our communities.

I could go on but the point is that our lives are unhealthy and this is showing up as mental illness.

[AlphaCentauri]

56. 40 hours a week is so XX century

in the XXI century we work 3 jobs and according to Bush that was 'Uniquely American'

When I tell my kids how I used to play running or jumping on trees they just don't believe it, it's like I'm from another planet. How I couldn't do that in front of a TV screen? they might think.

[get the red out]

67. Information and stress overload

People are asked to function under constant stress of some kind. It doesn't take a great leap to figure out we are burning out our nervous systems; and at a younger and younger age.

[get the red out]

43. We aren't supposed to look at that

:think:

[Old Coot]

91. Reason for so many antidepressants is....

that not everyone can be effectively treated with all antidepressants. It frequently takes several tries to find something that works. And....not everyone can be effectively treated with existing antidepressants. The pharmaceutical companies keep trying to find medications that are more effective for more people.

There is also a problem with bad side effects, especially with the older drugs. They attempt to find medications with fewer side effects.

I have tried most antidepressants on the market and have yet to find one that is effective. I have also had 35 electro-convulsive therapy sessions, with no improvement. I hope they eventually find a treatment for my depression.

[Sanity Claws]

93. Try Chinese medicine

They believe in the mind body connection very strongly and will approach the issue differently. Can't hurt and might help, particularly in light of your lack of response to Western medicine.

[Lorien]

94. Affluenza (consumerism as a way of life), conservative attitudes

and real biological factors. There's a difference between biological clinical depression (brain chemical imbalance, often hereditary) and circumstantial depression (loss of a loved one, isolation, etc.). There's a lot of both in this country, particularly the latter, due to our capitalist/ consumer culture which encourages us to value money and "stuff" over each other.

As far as ADHD/ ADD goes; 34% of the population of every nation on earth has some symptoms of ADHD or ADD. Always has. Parts of the brain are over active and other parts need stimulation. I have ADD and sometimes can't function without Adderall. I hate the stuff because of the side effects, but sometimes it's the only way I can get things done. :-(

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

101. ADHD? I don't know, but its valid

my daughter went untreated for ADHD all her life (I didn't think it applied to her) until
her senior year in high school.

Immediately her grades zoomed up.

She told me that before the meds, she just flat out could not absorb what
the teacher was saying.

She said suddenly it made sense.

Why it is this way, I don't know, but she deserves the help/treatment that ADHD meds
can provide.

She went from Cs, Ds and Fs to As, Bs and Cs.

[MannyGoldstein]

3. They've Helped a Lot of People

There's definitely abuse but, overall, they are very beneficial.

[irislake]

5. Watch for murder and suicide rates to rise

with use of SSRIs.

[Deep13]

7. So being less crazy makes people more violent?

:shrug: Jesus, what does THAT say about humanity?

[nolabels]

16. In the linear world of the so called 'sane' being non-violent is now abnormal

It's actually a battle of wits. One part of this world that says it's 'sane' has assembled a world where environmental and economic collapse is expected. While another part of it has decided that all out war before the collapse happens would be better. Thank goodness not all of us have to live in the so called 'sane' world :-)

[TommyO]

15. You conveniently ignore the people that SSRIs have helped

How precious.

[irislake]

18. Unbiased studies show that SSRIs

are no more effective that "the placebo effect". And the placebo does not have dangerous side-effects.

Google SSRIs and violence, murder and suicide and see for yourself how controversial SSRIs are and how Big Pharma shuts up dissenters.

Check out how Harvard medical students, horrified by the corruption at Harvard, are demanding that psychiatrists owned by Big Pharma get the hell out. They are as crooked as dogs' hind legs.

Unbiased studies have proved that SSRIs are no more effective than placebos. That was reported in NYT within last year but I'll betcha doctors continue to prescribe them.

All the mass murderers Columbine, Virginia U etc have been on SRRIs or have recently stopped taking an SSRI.

I was severely depressed for seven years. Prozac didn't help me or anybody else in the large group of depressed people I frequented once a week. Personally I believe fish oil OMEGA 3 is the present best treatment for depression but Big Pharma wouldn't like that, would they? After all so many Americans take SSRIs that it is in your drinking water now along with Lipitor and all the other drugs.

Criminal! I have heard, and it is probably not entirely true, that it is difficult to get psychotherapy now cuz the psychiatric profession has gone completely overboard prescribing drugs. Even little children are being drugged out of their minds. Literally.

Just part of the corruption after Reagan got into office and destroyed the FDA and so began the free reign of Big Pharma.

[Name removed]

21. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[mopinko]

25. got a link for that?

please do not throw around such inflammatory junk without a link to something. anything.

[irislake]

29. Google it

I can't be bothered.
NYT has had lots of articles recently about the conflicts of interest of psychiatrists at Harvard and the news about SSRIs being no better than placebos was in every major newspaper within the last year.

In addition I am 70 and not too swift on computer and don't know how to post articles. However will see what I can do since I do have quite a number of articles bookmarked under CRIMES OF BIG PHARMA. Give me time to find the best. Will try to get back to you.

[irislake]

32. Start with

<http://deanesmay.com/2008/02/29/hard-data-on-ssris-and-murdersuicide/>

[mopinko]

45. some blog with a compilation of unfortunate events is not evidence.

that is not a double blind study. a huge collection of anecdotes is still anecdotal. you have no way to gather the anecdotes of people whose lives have been saved, and whose children have been nurtured because of these and other medications.
and people who do not follow instructions does not make the medication bad. people are instructed not to stop taking it abruptly. but they do anyway. so, whose problem is that?

[TommyO]

85. No proof there, more unsubstantiated, specious claims.

I'm not surprised though, it's all you have.

[get the red out]

34. Here is a link to what you are discussing

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/7263494.stm

Anti-depressants' 'little effect' - article from the BBC

I know someone will flame me and say that you can't believe anything the BBC says. Whatever, it's just a link. My world isn't wrapped up in whether people believe it or not.

[mopinko]

41. it's not a flame if it is true.

the health forum has a post at least once a week from this source that is utter bunk. not a reliable source on these matters.

[mopinko]

35. if you can't link it, you might want to think twice about posting about it,

in light of the number of people that are offended by your contention. that is the standard around here. to make a factual claim, and not back it up is poor etiquette.

[irislake]

37. I apologize

see links I have posted to rectify it

[elleng]

40. You really should be 'bothered' by such.

We're all aware of such conflicts of interest. And would be up trees with placebos. Take my word.

[TommyO]

84. You made the claims, provide the proof.

[irislake]

36. A typical lawsuit

<http://www.baumhedlundlaw.com/media/ssri/Paxil_murder.htm>

Google "lawsuits SSRIs" and see what riches! I don't know how BigParma manages to keep the lid on this. There is overwhelming evidence. But until they reform the FDA (and Canada Health) and clamp down on doctors taking goodies from Big Pharma things may continue as is.

Note that it is so lucrative in the US for doctors to become entrepreneurs that Sanjay Gupta has written a book on it. Why did he go through medicine? It appears he used his medical degree to go on to greater things. Like big bucks. So much for Doctors Without Borders and and doctors who want to serve mankind. Seems they are scarce on the ground.

I read (in The Saturday Review of Literature) in the 60s that when doctors applied to medical school they were asked, "Why do you want to study medicine?" If they answered, "To help mankind." they were rejected. The powerful AMA was concerned about M-O-N-E-Y. It appears times have not changed and doctors are easily corrupted for money. Hopefully they no longer oppose state funded health insurance.

[mopinko]

44. well the ama does not run the medical schools, so, whatever they may think

it has nothing to do with rejecting candidates. i also doubt that all medical schools have the same "money grubber" clause in their criteria.
and people sue over a whole lot of shit. many, many lawsuits have no merit whatsoever. that is not really proof of anything.

[varkam]

92. So a lawsuit is your example of an unbiased study?

[no name no slogan]

46. WRONG. Studies show SSRIs as effective as older anti-depressants, but not more

for the most part.

However, SSRIs tend to have less severe side effects than the tricyclics and MAOIs-- which oftentimes means the difference between successful treatment and continued misery.

Prozac didn't work for you. It doesn't work for many people. So you try another one until you find one that does. It's the same with any chronic disease. If the first therapy doesn't work, you don't give up and suffer. You try again until you find one that does.

I have bipolar disorder. I have been on over a dozen drugs over the past decade and a half trying to get it under control. Some have worked better than others. Some have worked not at all (Lamictal and Trileptal, I'm looking at you). I've also been through years of psychotherapy, which has helped me manage this illness-- but it has not cured it. And it never will, because it's a chemical imbalance in my brain I've inherited from both sides of my family.

Just because a certain drug doesn't work for you doesn't mean it's a bad drug.

[LostinVA]

62. Not true at all

[Name removed]

75. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[TommyO]

83. Bullshit!

Care to provide any real studies, rather than pure garbage?

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

102. Do you believe that mental illness is a chemical imbalence or do you think patients is malingering?

Mental illness is real, it is often a chemical imbalence, we know that now

that is why we treat it to balance the chemicals.

At this time, we don't have another way to treat it.

But to argue that mental illness should not be treated with meds - are you saying
that mental illness is not a physical condition?

[get the red out]

31. Weight gain as well

Some people blow up like balloons then hate themselves for that without understanding that the side effects of their pill played a role in their weight gain.

[hedgehog]

58. I could be a skinny corpse or live as a fat person and take my meds.

I'd just as soon not be a corpse just yet!


Gee, SSRIs tend to intefere with your sex drive AND they tend to make you gain weight. I wonder why so many people take them if they're just placebos?

[no name no slogan]

66. Well, that's why I took them

I loved being a giant lardass who couldn't get any tail-- which didn't matter, because I could go all damned night and not have a single orgasm because of the SSRIs. So I got to be a great big fat happy lonely jackoff. And, since they didn't work, it was well worth it.

:sarcasm:

[Name removed]

76. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[no name no slogan]

82. I know you've been TS'd, but I need to respond to this

I am perfectly fine if you have your own opinion about meds. HOWEVER, I will not let your opinion (which flies in the face of clinical proof) dissuade somebody who may be helped by medications from getting the help s/he needs to live a normal life.

I will not deny that there have been violent side effects in some meds-- however, those violent side effects were NOT caused just by the drugs. There were also mitigating circumstances involved in all of those, and the drugs were oftentimes an aside to a much deeper problem (more often than not, an incomplete diagnosis and other factors not disclosed to the prescribing physician).

Say all you want about the meds, as you're entitled to your opinion. However, when your opinion starts harming other people and their ability to be well, I will call you on it, no matter what or where you are.

I've struggled against misinformation, lies and the stigma of mental illness for most of my 40 years on this earth. I WILL NOT let somebody with half-baked facts based on anecdotes they found on a couple crackpot web sites run me or anybody else who struggles with a brain disease down, just because some quack said Prozac breeds serial killers.

[Name removed]

98. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[irislake]

33. See

<http://ssristories.com/index.php>

[mopinko]

49. that's the same link you just posted.

that is a link at your other link. still anecdotes, and still proves nothing.

[TommyO]

86. More unsubstantiated crap

Where's the data? The real data?

[hedgehog]

57. Ahem....

U.S. Suicide Rate Drops as SSRI Prescriptions Rise


http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/news/article/8247

We must therefore wonder if the FDA’s actions and the subsequent decrease in access to these antidepressants in fact have caused an increase in youth suicide.

http://www.mentalhealthamerica.net/index.cfm?objectid=9327EFEC-1372-4D20-C8CEAD8075905557

[LostinVA]

61. Why? The ignorance about mental illness on here always surprises me

[no name no slogan]

69. It's pretty damned amazing, isn't it?

We don't treat cancer with tree bark and lemon grass. We nuke the hell out of it with radiation and drugs, because they're more effective. Same goes with mental illnesses. We don't send you to a mudbath if your manic-depressive-- we give you lithium.

It's such a no-brainer it's almost sad.

[uppityperson]

105. Funny there

since the amazing reincarnating troll just came back as "lemongrass", wondering if I should start watching for "treebark"?

I agree that it is pretty amazing, what people write here, not just the reincarnating one but others. It will be really good when mental illness is as accepted a diagnoses, non-stigmatically, as physical illness.

[Deep13]

6. I'm glad people are getting the treatment they need.

Perhaps the reduction of mental illness symptoms is partly responsible for the big Democratic wins last year.

[MARALE]

12. I often wonder why

there seems to be more mental illness now. I think that these things are better talked about. I also think that people do not relax and are stressed out way too much. I think that also, our diet has changes and we eat too much processed food as well as eat on the run too quickly. France and japan take their time over food, They eat slowly and enjoy it. I think this would help de-stress me instead of going through a drive through like I did last night.

[Kolesar]

13. Environmental pollution may be hammering our endocrine system

or getting into our brains, like mercury and lead. I am speculating.

[Odin2005]

19. Mental illnesses are better understood now and are not as stigmatized.

So there are more people willing to get help. Depression is no longer belittled by insensitive "just cheer up" banter and people with anxiety disorders can't just make themselves "chill out".

[MARALE]

28. I also think about alcohol

I know my grandfather and many in his family abused alcohol. I wonder if that was in an attempt to self medicate. People did not talk outright about that or try to help as they do now. They just whispered and hid those things.

[AlphaCentauri]

42. actually many people abuse alcohol and drugs when they are young

when they are older many of those abuses show as mental illness, which could be traced as self inflicted mental illness. Many people on disability check show these symptoms.

[mopinko]

50. that is a calloused and nasty reply

you do not know what you are talking about. do these welfare queens drive cadillacs, then?

[AlphaCentauri]

60. I have not called nobody a welfare queen

I know and I have worked with people who has been recovering from drugs and alcohol addictions and abuse, people who end on the street homeless and with mental illness, but I know there are many people that thinks tobacco cos cancer but the use of drugs and alcohol don't have consequences because they are used just for recreational purposes.

[mopinko]

68. i think you are making a cause and effect assumption here that is in error.

it is common for people with bipolar illness to become addicted to alcohol. you are implying that it works the other way. you are wrong.
this is not to dispute that alcoholism and drug addiction have serious neurochemical impact. they do. but the point that was being made is regarding the self medication that would not be happening if mentally ill people were actually medicated with the drugs that people in this thread are slamming.
your statement that this was "self inflicted" is quite offensive. as is your connection of the check.

[raccoon]

51. Disagree-I think it's the other way around. Many people abuse

alcohol/drugs because they're depressed, bipolar, etc.

[AlphaCentauri]

65. you are correct but a normal person with substance abuse issues

can develop a mental illness, most of the time drug abuse start as a recreational use not to treat depression or other problems.

[mopinko]

70. and many people never go past the recreational stage.

i have no idea what percentage go on to become addicted, or why. but i do know that it is a fact that many of those for whom it becomes a problem have underlying mental illnesses. especially bipolar and depression. really, mostly, you have it backwards.

[no name no slogan]

88. I would argue that person was probably mentally ill to begin with

The drug/alcohol abuse did not cause the illness-- it was already there, but it did not show itself until the substance abuse began.

Addiction is recognized as a mental illness in the DSM, btw, and has been for some time.

[uppityperson]

106. Thank you.

I am reading ahead and finding you are already writing what I was going to

[no name no slogan]

48. My family tree is full of bipolar drunks (me included)

Many people with bipolar disorder self-medicate with alcohol and other drugs. In fact, alcoholism among those with bipolar disorder is more than twice as prevalent than in the normal population. Only now that we have better diagnostic tools and treatment methods can we recognize mental illness for what it really is.

[mopinko]

53. very, very common. when taking a family history,

stating that a family member from a past generation was an alcoholic will be presumed to mean they were bp. that was my dad. had other common symptoms, also, but that is just what people resorted to before these drugs were commonly available, and mental illness was not even understood.

and an anecdote for those who think these drugs are worthless, if only my dad had had the benefit of them. he was a real genius. he wanted very badly to be a doctor. he had to leave college, where he had straight a's for 3 years, to take care of his family when the great depression hit. had his illness been recognized and treated, he would have gone back to school and become that doc. instead he ended up as an alcoholic plumbing salesman, with 7 kids who were terrified of him.

[TommyO]

87. Alcohol is frequently used as a self-medication

Of course, since it's a depressant, it's counter-productive.

[fizzgig]

90. exactly

people aren't going to seek treatment for something if they feel they will just be scoffed at or belittled.

[Dr.Phool]

14. They're treating the wrong people.

Just look at Congress.

[Odin2005]

20. Sociopathy is untreatable, unfortunately. n/t

[Dappleganger]

17. The economy is pressing down on everyone

people who used to be able to keep it together have met their limits and I've noticed many more of my own friends admitting to using some kind of anti-depressant.

I see nothing to relate big pharma to the rise--people are going in and asking for drugs by name because they are desperate for something that will keep them from going nuts while they look for jobs, help their families, etc.

[ElboRuum]

22. In the words of the underpants gnomes...

1. Narrow the psychological definition of "normal" such that 3 people in New Guinea satisfy it.
2. Prescribe drugs to control the "abnormality" to everyone else.
3. Convince the 3 in New Guinea that they suffer from dippydoodleitis. Prescribe drugs to them. (If you know where dippydoodleitis comes from, you are SO showing your age.)
4. ???
5. Profit!

[dixiegrrrrl]

27. NOw you know why I left the Mental Health field.

[mopinko]

24. this reflects the development of new drugs that are helping a huge number of

people. nothing more, nothing less. get it? people being helped. people not committing suicide. people not having their lives destroyed.
it includes medications for alzheimers, for which there were no medications in 1996.

although it states that there is a doubling in the diagnosis of mental illness in children, it could very well be just that- a doubling of the DIAGNOSIS. docs did not used to even know what bipolar disorder looked like in children. some mental illnesses are still diagnoses only given after reaching age 18.

this is good news. those of you in this thread saying that this is big pharma plot, yada yada, are being incredibly insulting to the members here who take these medications. EXTREMELY INSULTING.

EXTREMELY INSULTING. PLEASE STOP IT

[WriteDown]

38. You're just another schill for Big Pharma...

In case you didn't pick it up. :sarcasm:

[no name no slogan]

52. I only WISH I'd been diagnosed as a kid

I wouldn't have wasted 30 years of my life struggling along in silence, or suffered through yet another "you'll get over it" lecture from some "well-meaning" stranger.

[hedgehog]

59. I'm with you!

[uppityperson]

72. Thank you. This thread shows me why people who have mental health issues try to hide them, or don't

get treatment. We need more easily accessible, affordable NON-STIGMATIC mental health care.

What a bunch of nasty and insulting stuff here indeed (not meant towards those who are posting so) .

Makes me really sad and really angry also

[no name no slogan]

73. It's very sad in this day and age on a liberal message board

That us crazy people have to put up with this kind of shit, even from supposedly liberal-minded people.

If you have a broken leg, do you rub mineral spirits on it and hope it gets better? What about skin cancer? Do you put hand lotion on it and hope it goes away?

Of course not. You go see a medical professional and get it treated in the best way possible.

Psychiatry (the use of medications to treat mental illness) is a very young science. Most psychiatric drugs have only been around for forty years, or less (lithium was approved to treat bipolar disorder in 1970 in the US). It's still very much shotgun medicine, but it does work for many people. To malign them (and their treatments) just because you don't like big pharma is extremely insensitive, at the least, and almost criminal, at the worst.

[Name removed]

77. Deleted message

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[no name no slogan]

78. No, nothing wrong...

but when you start criticizing people who need these medications in order to function, and calling them weak-willed, and saying it's "just in your head", well, then that crosses a line that should not be crossed.

And yes, some Psychiatrists can be "total whack jobs", but not all of them are. And nobody puts their faith in just one person-- medicine by its very nature is consultative, and any diagnosis relies on the opinion of not just a doctor, but also years of medical research.

And would you ever tell a person suffering from diabetes that their problem was a lack of understanding of their "true nature"? Sounds absurd, doesn't it? Why would you ever say the same thing about a schizophrenic, or a manic-depressive?

[mopinko]

80. short visit this time

the amazing whirling zombie.

[no name no slogan]

81. dayum, that was quick

blink and you miss 'em.

[mopinko]

89. this one is a sport of it's own.

never gets far.

[Name removed]

99. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[EvolveOrConvolve]

79. Thank you, mopinko

There are some of us that owe our lives to these medications, and it's sad that so many of us don't like to talk about it, even on a liberal message board, because of ignorant assholes.

[Gman2]

26. They manufacture Ennui, make religion a farce, and

then we womder why so many need anti depressants. I took prozac for a short time, when after a bicycle hit and run, I lost use of my right arm. I almost killed a whole restaurant of people in a Baja Fresh. It took a week of meditation at the beach, to chill. Wasnt sure ZI was ever coming back. I know they CANNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN help some, but the her, kiddie, go play in traffic, of NOT at least including some form of therapy. But that takes time, and time is money. And therapy is squishy. Our culture is NOTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT about humans. It is about profit. Our lobbyist-restricted pres, with us, as campaign donors, as little guys, scares the bejesus out of themall. Things just might change everywhere.

[fascisthunter]

54. many conservos could use some medication and a good

smack in the head for denying they have problems. Time to move out of your mom's basement freepers and grow up.

[Jennicut]

63. I take Lexapro for PMDD, Premenstrual dysphoric disorder

Its like having PMS 2000 times worse then normal. Depression/thoughts of suicide. Extreme anger at times. Some people really need to take meds for depression and other psychiatric problems. I do agree that for some are prescribed it way too easily. But for those of us that suffer from legitimate debilitating depressive episodes these meds are a life saver. I had these episodes since college, in the mid 1990's. I remember how bad they were without my meds. The meds take the edge off but the episodes are still not that great.

[Jennicut]

64. Sorry, dupe

[hunter]

74. Off my meds I'm a holy terror.

I could grab Ezekiel by the balls and drag him through the brier patch screaming whores and fornication and the seed of stallions all the way.

The hand of the Lord came upon me there, and he said to me, Rise up; go out onto the plain, and there I will speak to you. So I rose up and went out into the plain; the glory of the Lord was there, like the glory which I had seen by the river Kebar, and I threw myself down on my face. Then a spirit came into me and stood me on my feet and spoke to me: Go, he said, and shut yourself up in your house. You shall be tied and bound with ropes, man, so that you cannot go out among the people. I will fasten your tongue to the roof of your mouth and you will be unable to speak: you will not be the one to rebuke them, rebels though they are. But when I have something to say to you, I will give you back the power of speech. Then you will say to them, "These are the words of the Lord God." If anyone may listen he may listen, and if he refuses to listen he may refuse; for they are the rebels.

Perhaps flying away by the power of my own bootstraps was my true calling in life, but no thanks, I'd rather not. The work is too hard and makes my feet bleed. All this is coming from a guy who loathes the big pharmaceutical corporations more than most.

Anti-med folk could not survive my unmedicated dreams; the life would be sucked right out of them and they would die. But I am not strong because I can survive these dreams -- by long experience I can -- but because I choose to cast them aside every time I take my meds.

Some people are prescribed meds a little too easily, and big pharm makes an unjust profit of that, but that's not the most terrible thing that can happen in comparison to the social stigmas the mentally ill must endure every day in our society. Even while there is someone taking meds inappropriately, there is someone else who is not taking meds who might benefit by them. But someone has told them that they were weak, or defective, or lazy, and that they just need to be a little stronger. Yeah, right, those naysayers couldn't even lift one foot off the floor if they were wearing my boots.

[tigereye]

95. The ignorance about mental health needs and medications, and their positive

effects for many people as well, displayed in this thread, is simply astonishing and rather disheartening.


:wow:

[Chemisse]

96. Sure they are overprescribed

particularly among teenagers, in my opinion.

And certainly, some people have out-of-the-blue violent impulses, particularly when they are just starting on SSRIs or increasing dosages.

And absolutely, much money is being made by drug companies.

But if you are suffering from depression/anxiety, getting this treatment can transform and oftentimes save your life. Those of you who have never suffered in this way could be hard-pressed to imagine how a dark fog can surround your life in every waking moment, leeching out your energy and sucking away any moments of happiness.

Surely we can agree to respect the valid needs of the mentally ill while disagreeing on other aspects of this topic.

[tigereye]

97. I agree that kids and teens are often on meds too often, or on too many

meds. It scares me, and I work in the field. There are certainly those for whom medications are a sure life-saver, but often some folks want to look to medications first when there is a need to work on behavioral strategies first or in tandem with medications.

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

103. are you one of those people who thinks teen-agers don't suffer from mental illness?

I guess you will not believe that teenagers commit suicide either.

[Name removed]

104. Deleted message

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