I’m a practicing shrink. This article has the typical, quasi-fashionable anti-pharma, anti-psychiatry agenda behind it, and is slanted to serve that need. It is nonsense.
The truth is, there have been two stunning breakthroughs in psychopharmacology since the days of Thorazine and Elavil, the likes of which were all we had when I started practcing. Prozac, and all the second generation anti-depressants that followed, was the first one. Clozaril, and all the subsequent “atypical anti-psychotics” that followed, was the second. The latter category of meds have profound benefits for a wide range of disorders far beyond merely Schizophrenia and Bipolar Disorder.
For those of us who are actually charged with the responsibility of relieving the suffering and incapacitation of mental illnesses - not just sitting around writing about it - these medicines have been a godsend, and overwhelmingly grateful patients agree.
“For those of us who are actually charged with the responsibility of relieving the suffering and incapacitation of mental illnesses”
You First have a responsibility to Scientifically, Biologically Prove that any of your mental illnesses even Exist as anything other than an excuse to churn out Bills to Insurers.
“overwhelmingly grateful patients agree.”
Oh Really?
That’s why for Decades those “Overwhelmingly Grateful Patients” have been tossing Your Garbage Drugs into toilets and trashcans at every opportunity they can find.
http://bonkersinstitute.org/medshow/noncompliant.html
YOUR DRUGS, take 25 YEARS off of a person’s life. Do you tell them That when you prescribe them?
my ex-wife got my son diagnosed as “ADD” after ONE visit to a well-respected and credentialed Doctor.
medication was IMMEDIATELY prescribed, and taken.
i didn’t know about it. i only learned of of it, BECAUSE i noticed abnormal behavior, caused by the drugs !
he’s a good boy. not a discipline problem. (and i’ve never had to spank him, not once!)
they said he had problems with staying focused.
i said “watch him play video games for hours, learning goals, advancing, etc.”. sure i’d prefer he was reading.
but he has NO problem with “focus”, if a subject is made interesting.
(i taught him negative numbers, and stuff from physics, years before he learned them in school. i know how to teach him.)
...then, they said he has trouble remember things.
(apparently another boiler plate “symptom” to drug boys for ADD or ADHD, along with inability to keep their energy seated for many boring hours with boring teachers...)
so i had him begin reciting the ENTIRE history of the 7 tribes of Bionicles, with the complete history of their world and culture. ...then, started him naming Pokemon, with ALL their evolution stages...
after about TWO HUNDRED, they finally got the message...
and my son remains drug free.