Posted by LostBoyinNC45 on February 21, 2014, at 23:09:09 [reposted on February 24, 2014, at 16:51:33 | original URL]
The root cause of treatment resistant mood disorders, or medication and psychotherapy resistant mood disorders is something never discussed on this board. Or other forums and places. The root cause of lackluster response to psychiatric treatment of severe psychiatric problems is that very few sufferers vote consistently.
There, I said it. Before you blast me, think about it. If you go on a forum like this or go to a mood disorders support group offline. What do you here and read? That many sufferers of these illnesses, particularly the severe cases, they dont get that much better and end up disabled. Or end up dead. A few end up in prison as a result of vagrancy type "survival crimes" and become part of the chronic prison system.
Why is this? The meds obviously do not work as well as marketed and as much as we'd all like to think. Whats the solution to that? Better medications. Better science. Better scientific understanding of these serious illnesses, SO THAT better medications and diagnosis methods can be developed, via science and biotech research.
BUT, that all costs beaucoup amounts of money. Lots of taxpayer $$$$ for basic brain and neuroscience research. Lots of $$$$ for studying how sleep disorders affects mood and thinking. Lots of $$$$ for studying how our endocrine systems and how nutrition affects our mood and thinking.
That money has to come from somewhere. Congress has the purse strings to fund basic science research that ultimately leads to better drugs and treatments. But since most sufferers of mental illness do not vote consistently, if at all, politicians could give a flip about the demographic that populates this board. I know thats a cruel thing to say, but its THE TRUTH.
People with cardiovascular disease and people with cancer, they oftentimes vote. People with many other "conventional" medical illnesses VOTE. So politicians are at least semi-concerned about those demographics, as they do not want to be perceived as uncaring or callous about sufferers of heart disease and various types of cancer. So, politicians who hold the vast purse strings of taxpayer funded, basic science research direct most of the money towards traditional diseases.
As always, severe mental illness is heavily left high and dry. Im not saying there is no research on the subject, there is and there is a lot more than there used to be. But we need LOTS more. And that costs LOTS of $$$$$.
If you want to get better, you need a drug that actually works. Drugs that actually get you to remission, not just keep you alive at a sub remission level. Not just drugs that keep those suicidal thoughts at bay. You need drugs that will make you a fully functioning person again.
This is why Im saying, the root cause of treatment resistant mood disorders is the fact most of us do not vote consistently. Thus elected officials in the federal and state governments do not give a flip about you and your plight.
What can you do about it? Get out and register to vote if you are not already registered. Then VOTE and vote every single election. Even in the midterms. Even if you are so sick, you can barely move. There have been several elections where my depression was so flared up I was like a walking talking dead person...but I made myself vote. All you gotta do is drive your car to the polling place, walk in and vote. If you are too tired to drive, there are organizations that will take you to the polls on election days for free.
Then after you vote, email the people who are elected and tell them you vote, tell them your concerns about severe mental illness and the need for much better medications, for better funded basic and advanced neuroscience research. Tell them you are asking them to push for better taxpayer funded science research at NIH and NIMH.
If more people on this board and similar boards would do this simple thing, vote consistently, I guarantee that your lives would get better over time. I absolutely promise you that things would get better for people with severe mental illness.
Get out and start voting. The midterms are coming up this Fall 2014.
Eric AKA "LostBoyinNC"
poster:LostBoyinNC45
thread:1061206
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/poli/20120327/msgs/1061206.html