Posted by Squiggles on August 4, 2005, at 19:19:50
In reply to Re: does LITHIUM cognitive problems go away???, posted by Squiggles on August 4, 2005, at 17:31:43
BTW, in case this message is coming
from the Anti-psychiatry field, I
would like to make an appeal to such
people. Often drugs, such as lithium
are called "poison" ('it has to be
excreted by the kidneys and eventually
they will rot, etc.'). May I suggest
that depression-induced suicide is
not new. You can read about it in
Pre-Thorazine history. Thus, it is not
the drugs or ECT that were responsible.Granted, we still do not know what the
cause(s) of mental illness is exactly. But the
fact that it is a chemical imbalance and
that drugs change the brain to another
chemical imbalance, is not something to
sneeze at- that chemical imbalance allows
people to live a more or less normal life.Regarding the poison, take a look at the etymology
of "pharmakon" - from the Gk. -- it means
exactly that - poison. Why -- because
all drugs are poisons. That does not mean
they are evil, or bad, or immoral. They
are external substances which to do some good
inevitably must do some harm.My hope is that the academic or puritan
priority of this school will give way
to the true compassionate goal of psychiatry --
to alleviate the misery this disease brings.Squiggles
poster:Squiggles
thread:537243
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20050803/msgs/537602.html