Posted by Ritch on February 16, 2003, at 10:15:17
In reply to Re: Ritch:Juggling Meds and Frustrating life » Ritch, posted by jumpy on February 16, 2003, at 9:19:33
> When I refer to response to a medication, I mean a dramatic change in one's mood state. Psychiatric medication should give people *potential*. They should not make people happy or sad, but give them the potential to experience these emotions in the appropriate environment. So if everyone did have this response to medication, I would agree everyone should take them. In reality, most people without mental illness do not experience a dramatic change in there mood in that the medications allow to final experience appropriate emotions.
I think I understand what you mean. There are many people who do not get any medical treatment at all for what is clearly a psychiatric condition. Someone I knew who is bipolarI (with primarily recurrent moderately intense manias) went untreated the first 40 years of his life. He never appeared to be unhappy and never said so, and was quite successful business-wise. However, his FAMILY was profoundly unhappy when his episodes struck. They were very relieved when he responded to lithium. He didn't seem very relieved but continued to take it because THEY wanted him to. I suppose what I was referring to was the "better than normal" phenomeona that gets talked about (usually with respect to SSRI's and psychostimulants). If you are taking a "personal life enhancer" or a "productivity augmentation agent", then what kind of illness are you treating? Let's say Prozac helps you sell real-estate better because it warms your personality up and makes you unusually charming (despite not being anxious or depressed in any way), and you take Provigil so you can fly more missions over Iraq without getting drowsy or stay over at the office an extra four hours to get even more work done despite no change in salary-to keep from losing your job (even though you don't have ADD or narcolepsy). I suppose I have got a *point* somewhere-but I'm not sure. It just seems like a henomenon that is for sure happening, but I don't know what will happen as a result (good or bad). I suppose when you add it all up the economy will be better and we will be more happy? Maybe.
> So was this a good thing or bad thing? Is it better to "disengage" and develope "emotional numbness" to your problems, or better to be proactive and attempt to resolve your problems?
>
> Thanks,
>
> JumpyIn some cases the problem is the person's *perception* that it is a problem in the first place. What if the whole thing wasn't a problem at all? Something your mind created to torment you with? SSRI's help me (IMO), not by "numbing my emotions", but by eliminating problems that don't exist in the first place. Kind of like eliminating all of the junk mail from your head. Maybe I don't seem to experience "numbness" from them because of the tiny doses I take. I think many could make a case for overmedication as well as undermedication (untreated people).
poster:Ritch
thread:140790
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20030214/msgs/200881.html