Posted by Bob on February 16, 2014, at 14:02:15
In reply to Re: Scott (pretty long post) » poser938, posted by SLS on February 16, 2014, at 9:18:07
> Poser,
>
> I refuse to condemn all of psychiatry. I have seen too many people have their depression vanish and allow them to be reborn into the world of the living. I have seen too many people have their psychotic mania extinguished. I have seen too many people relieved of their schizoid thought disorganization and paranoia. I have seen too many people with ADD regain their cognitive ability to focus and return to a life of achievement. I have seen too many people with OCD become able to exit the bathroom and go to work by suppressing compulsive hand-washing. I have seen too many people become employable by removing their paralyzing anxiety.
>
> Clearly, some people experience negative reactions to psychotropic drugs, some of which persist beyond the discontinuation of the offending drug. I don't think psychiatry has yet fully explored nor appreciated the scope, severity, and persistence of adverse psychiatric side effects of psychotropic medications. It took quite awhile for psychiatry to recognize and accept the observation that antidepressants can actually exacerbate depression.
>
> What are some of the side effects of those drugs used to treat cancer? They are not minor. Why are the standards of acceptability of side effects so different between cancer and psychiatric illnesses?
>
> Some people are unwilling to wait until age 92 for the perfect treatments for mental illness to come along. I decided to begin treatment at age 22 while I still had my whole life ahead of me. Were it not for the error in judgment of several doctors, I would probably have remained well beginning at age 27. Now THAT is a bitter pill to swallow.
>
>
> - Scott
Scott,As usual your post sparks curiosity in me. How have you had the chance to witness all the examples of people getting better in the multiple examples you cited? Did you work in the psych/med field in the past? Or maybe currently?
I agree that the field of psychiatry hasn't fully appreciated the full scope of possible side-effects or reactions possible to the medicines. One thing in this area which hasn't made much progress in my opinion is the deep struggling and difficulty some people have with withdrawal.
I think there are differing standards for acceptability concerning cancer drugs merely because the disease and side-effects are much more 'physically' oriented and are much more visible. There isn't the vagueness of confusing things with behavior and the perceived link between various forms of cancer and the possibility of relatively swift death is a sobering aspect. People don't really lend a lot of credence to the chance of death as an outcome. Even when it does occur it often manifests in the form of suicide and leads people to say that the victim merely made a choice and could just as easily have chosen otherwise. Few people think you can escape cancer with willpower and behavior modification... plenty believe that for mental/neurological problems.
You mentioned an error in judgement by your doctors that hampered your getting better back when you were 22. What was that, and are you saying you never got as well as could have been or would you say you're back on course these days?
-Bob
poster:Bob
thread:1060040
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20140214/msgs/1060755.html