Posted by psych chat on October 28, 2009, at 17:10:21
In reply to Psych chat - re: SSRI's, posted by Jay_Bravest_Face on October 28, 2009, at 15:38:25
Hey Jay! Thanks for the note. Oh-I think SSRIs can be very useful too. (and I am not one to think they should be "taken off the market")
It's just sad there are no good diagnostic methods and the system of the whole psych field in general. I do still contend long term effects of SSRIs should be studied-scientifically, of course. Who knows if/how our brain "mutates" as a result of being on them for years? So little is known about the brain....
I do agree with you it could be just changes in our illness that lead to the adverse effects. But who knows for sure? One would never know how their symptoms *would be* if they hadn't taken the SSRI for years.
And I agree with you about trying combos of meds, mood stabilizers, etc. The problem with bipolar vs. unipolar is the average diagnosis time is 10 years (read from a reputable site) to diagnose bipolar. I realize this doesn't mean the mood stabilizers shouldn't be experimented with.....
It disheartens me that mental illness seems to still be on the back burner of health care in several ways. I think it's still due to stigma. The beliefs that it's all in your head/snap out of it/it's not real-it's just attitude, etc., have evolved in the past several decades...
But you see all these large, state-of the art cancer centers, cancer research funding campaigns, race for the cure, celebrity and TV ad campaigns etc., and tons of money spent on certain illness...I don't see the same for mental illness, despite the fact that close to 25% of the population experiences mental illness in any given year. It's just sad. And NAMI just disclosed it receives 75% of its funding from pharmaceutical companies. I guess without drug co. funding, it might not exist.
Meanwhile, some of the inpatient mental hospitals are horrid places, there are still insurance differences, people discriminate greatly for employment. When a person has a 'physical illness', and goes to the hospital and gets lots of support. When a person has a mental illness, such as a breakdown that requires hospitalization, many look the other way and think differently. If your place of employment finds out you were hospitalized for a mental illness vs. a physical illness, it sometimes happens that you may never be treated as the same individual before the illness occured. Insurance companies cover every teenager who has the least bit of acne now, but still restricts psychotherapy for many.
I see these psych doctors driving their lexus and bmw's and think-maybe they should give a bit back to the very community that enriched them? Just a bit of idealism here. Psych doctors earn in the mid-to high range among all the professions. Neurosurgeons average the highest pay. Primary care physicians the lowest. Maybe some do get back. Of course, they've heavily invested in education to get where they are, and most, I find are genuinely interested in helping people. But the AMA has a history of restricting the supply of doctors so that they can earn more. And my own education costs about the same as that of a medical doctor, and I am sure others' educations can by costly as well; I will earn nowhere near what a psychiatrist earns. I'm tired of doctors complaining how much their education costs. Of course, I think sometimes that education should be either free or more heavily funded, in general. But I don't believe doctors should get more aid over anyone else. If there is a shortage of primary care doctors, although their job inreasingly sux, don't let so many doctors become dermatologists and you might just get more pcps.
Anyway, I hope the Obama administration steps up the mental health research as a proportion of his research inititiatives. It surely is past due and needed.
Oh, I rambled. Oops. (sorry).
poster:psych chat
thread:923124
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20091021/msgs/923152.html