Psychiatry's sick compulsion: turning weaknesses into diseases

LATimes.com ^ | 12/01/2006 | By Irwin Savodnik

[MarkL]

Pyschiatry has always been "liberal" in its leanings.

At one point in my life, I was seriously depressed, to the point of being suicidal. I saw a psychiatrist, who proceeded to try to get me to blame all of my failures and problems on someone else, specifically my mother. And he perscribed prozac and lithium. I had a bad reaction to the prozac, and have since decided that I will never see another psychiatrst, nor take any mind altering drugs, ever again. Now, I just "deal" with my depression.

Mark

[Finny]

Bummer story! I'm not a big fan of psychiatry, what little I know about it. However, I feel it important to acknowledge at least one excellent man, a psychiatrist whose artist wife was an old, long-time friend of my mom. I was writing a story about the affects of divorce on kids and interviewed this man as one of several sources for the story.

Indirectly, his wisdom and plain common sense and honesty in talking about family dynamics in divorce helped me to recognize and halt a pretty negative pattern of behavior that I'd indulged and nurtured over the years (that didn't have anything to do with divorce, except that it would eventually have led to the breakup of my own marriage). I have always been grateful to him, though I know he didn't have any idea at the time of his impact on me. He was a very kind and loving soul.

I'll bet that if you had been to see THIS guy, your mother's role would be relegated to supurfluous and he'd have helped you untangle all that emotional barbed wire without drugs. You'd have ended up with more affection for yourself and you'd have a higher opinion of psychiatry. Then again ... I have at least as low an opinion of psychiatry as you do!!! I think the man I write about above was an exception!

[cva66snipe]

I had a bad reaction to the prozac, and have since decided that I will never see another psychiatrst, nor take any mind altering drugs, ever again. Now, I just "deal" with my depression.

Prozac and any other antidepressant can be dangerous if the doctor has not found the actual cause of the depression which all too often is due to a physical problem.

For example if you have sensory dysfunction Prozac or any other anti-depressant can cause Serotonin Syndrome. A very dangerous and sometimes deadly adverse reaction causing the Serotonin in the stomach {it is actually for digestion} to migrate to the brain. In doing so it can have the same effect as giving someone LSD and if continued cause death via stroke. I've seen the reaction with my own eyes and nearly had it myself with several SSRI's. When the doctors wised up {at my insistence} and gave me Xanax things got better.

I've been treated for General Anxiety Disorder. That condition will never leave me as the primary neurological condition triggering it is not curable. That primary condition not only caused G.A.D. but Obsessive Compulsive Behavior and Post Traumatic Stress. The OCB came about Becca's I was losing concentration and memory capabilities. To compensate for it I had to check and re-check everything I did. I was a maintenance mechanic and boiler operator. The PTSS came from the straw that broke the camels back. PTSS can come from an accumulation of events.

I went through 5 shrinks. Finally I found the book that linked my medical history to my symptoms. The fight was convincing the shrinks of it. A LCSW got me through the OCB and PTSS. A shrink who knew about my condition gave me the Xanax and told me not to take anti-depressants. The Xanax also controls seizure activity related to dysfunctional sensory processing.

My wife has sensory dysfunction and GAD, depression as well. A shrink gave her SSRI's and she ended up in a coma. The clueless morons treating her failed to do a simple medication adverse reaction look up as related to the symptoms. They was saying psychotic even when she lapsed into a coma. I know of no mental illness that causes a coma in a patient. But even that detail did not change their minds. Thankfully despite them she survived when they were nearly force fed a medication alert written by their Pharmacology Professor.

[TChad]

Does giving an affliction a fancier name really improve anything?

It probably makes billing easier.

[MarkL]

I had a bad reaction to the prozac, and have since decided that I will never see another psychiatrst, nor take any mind altering drugs, ever again. Now, I just "deal" with my depression.

Prozac and any other antidepressant can be dangerous if the doctor has not found the actual cause of the depression which all too often is due to a physical problem.

I didn't have a "physical problem," but I found myself completely losing control of my emotions, going on a "murderous rant." I'm just glad that I didn't hurt anyone, or myself. It scared the hell out of me. And this was well before reports of people wigging out on prozac started coming out. It was a brand new medication back then (about 1988, I think).

Mark

[cva66snipe]

I didn't have a "physical problem," but I found myself completely losing control of my emotions, going on a "murderous rant." I'm just glad that I didn't hurt anyone, or myself. It scared the hell out of me. And this was well before reports of people wigging out on prozac started coming out. It was a brand new medication back then (about 1988, I think).

The makers of Prozac and other anti-depressants are just now admitting it can cause adverse reactions to patients with neuro sensory damage. If you're curious as to why you were losing control read this article. Serotonin Syndrome: Recognition and Management

BTW just a word of caution some OTC cold medications if not taken properly can produce this as well. You would be very surprised how many doctors do not have a clue as to Serotonin Syndromes symptoms. With my wife 6 doctors at two hospitals missed it. The linked article was the one I showed the attending house doctor. Same university owned the hospital but in a different part of the state.

[imintrouble]

The sound basis here with testimony from some who have suffered at the hands of immediate prescription treatment is the verifiable fact that not all presenting problems are treatable with pharmaceuticals, and certainly not on a one-size-fits-all type of treatment.

An extremely mild doze of Xanax or Albuterol (generic) say 2.5 - half of that will suffice to get the patient mobilized into relaxed performance success - the success leads to more success and trying out new ventures into the feared and avoided... and viola...much of the presenting problem will disappear (phobia or PTSD types) - then one can work on the original underlying causative factor, but the patient must be stabilized and have a forward-thinking outlook in order for any kind of "digging" into the psyche to be successful.

I would not give anyone I cared about an SSRI on any initial presentation and anyone who does, psychiatrist or not, should be questioned. It is a masking, not a cure and often creates more problems than the patient was bothered with.

With phobic reaction, one is often surprised at the simplicity and early beginnings of the cause, once it is exposed. To shed phobia, to come back into the sunshine is like rebirth for those who have suffered its bondage.

[cva66snipe]

Amen :>} Xanax is a good and safe drug IF the doctor and patient understands it. The number one mistake doctors make is prescription strength and times per day. Some will write out 2mg Xanax twice a day. That's a bad way to do it. The dosage is too strong for most needs and Xanax has about a 6 hour life in my experience. In other words a Yo-Yo effect occurs when too much is given or given too far apart.

But they can take one 2mg dosage and split it 4 ways giving .5mg 4 times a day and that will do wonders. Also I would not recommend it to anyone who consumes more than a small glass of wine per day.

My wife has taken it 20 years and I have for 12 years. I have sensory induced myloclonic seizures so it's a life time medication for me. Without it I would not be able to function at all. I can not for the life of me understand why doctors use SSRI's when if used correctly Benzo's are safer and give immediate results.

[cva66snipe]

With phobic reaction, one is often surprised at the simplicity and early beginnings of the cause, once it is exposed. To shed phobia, to come back into the sunshine is like rebirth for those who have suffered its bondage

If the phobia involves heights, loud noises, noisy rooms, or driving, I would look hard at a sensory oriented cause. As such these are not actual phobias but rather distorted sensory responses. For example. I do not climb ladders. {I have poor balance} My brain knows that and responds accordingly. I hate Walmarts. I hate their louder than needed instore P.A. system blaring for trivial announcements up to 5 times per minute. As a result I go there at mid-nite. Noisy rooms? I hear everybody and understand nobody. Sensory overload can produce an anxiety attack very quick. At family gatherings especially inside I leave the room very often. Driving? That can have a number of causes. The one that gets me the quickest is driving in the winter through a wooded area on a sunny day. The sun shinning through the trees produces a strobing effect in turn produces sensory overload.

The quickest way to determine phobic and non phobic anxiety attacks is by keeping a journal and looking at what you were doing when it happened. That helped me out a lot.

Another thing is with my type of GAD Cognitive Behavioral Therapy will not work anymore than hitting my fingers with a hammer will desensitize my senses to a tolerance of of pain. It must be treated different and I do recommend avoidance or rather control of triggering events. For example I don't avoid going shopping. I avoid shopping during busy hours. When I drive at the conditions I described I use a good pair of sun glasses & that helps somewhat.

[imintrouble]

Thank you for your personal sharing - I believe those who have walked the road of finding help are the best learning we can get -

I made an error in my post about Xanax when I typed Albuterol as its generic.... it should have been Alprazolam... I am still stuffed from too much good eating over Christmas and I think my head has gone lazy too!

Take the smallest dose of anything at the beginning ... if relief is obtained with that (say half of 2.5) that may be all your body/mind needs.

Notice it is rare that anti-depressants are ever able to be "halved" as they are timed release and it is impossible to lower the doses. Consequently, we start off immediately at the highest dose prescribed which is again a one size fits all and for a woman who is say 100 lbs., it is a loose fit compared with a man who is 225 lbs. Overmedicating is one of the worst things that can happen - who needs side effects from something which is supposed to help.

There is one relief regarding loud noises or environmental pressure causing stress is internalizing noise, people, and consequently anxiety becomes more possible. One needs to turn themselves towards others....chat in line with other people, even start conversations to take the focus off one's feelings of turmoil and out of ones own problems. Even hooking up to portable earphone music as one shops can calm.

Isolation because of panic is like pouring oil on a fire which is already blazing. One needs to expand into the world around even though frightening, to find it is not so bad at all as many people are having some measurable anxiety thesmelves - even if it is about spending too much money in a store, or deciding what to purchase (if there is a choice).

It is a new frontier because of the huge stressors our society has offered us. Think of the machines we now operate without a thought ... driving and parking, selecting and making choices - even as to the food we eat..

We live in a highly organized world and our emotional lives and yes physical selves if we are over-sensitive cognitively, needs to adjust and feel calm amidst the chaos.

Recognize what overwhelms us and learn to take it in small doses until it is removed from the list.

I am happy you and your wife have found help and can enjoy the life you were meant to.

[oxcart]

"I had a bad reaction to the prozac, and have since decided that I will never see another psychiatrist, nor take any mind altering drugs, ever again. Now, I just "deal" with my depression."

When I was in college (working full time) I burnt my self out. I went to a MD who told me I was depressed and promptly wrote me a script for prozac. I had a bad reaction to prozac (became suicidal), in 1988 I think. Since that time I only take medication after researching and evaluating other options.

I went to a large college medical library and did some research on depression and found how well L-Tryptophan worked for some.

I started taking it (L-Trp.)at night with a vitamin B-6 and a little orange juice (the O.J. helps the blood brain transfer of the L-Tryptophan). This brought immediate relief and I have never had problems with "depression" again. Since that time I only take medication after researching and evaluating other options.


Have you ever talked with your MD about taking L-Tryptophan?

[oxcart]

"But isn't it interesting how the thread had already evolved into a "me too!" collection of commentaries? What place does critical thinking occupy in lives of people? Judging from the knee-jerk reactions already posted, virtually none. < /soapbox>"

LOL, well said and sadly true. This thread has calmed down and there are some good comments on the second page.

I think the negative reaction to this article is due in part to the frustration with the whole medical industry. We have become a nation of pill popper's for every ill that is bestowed upon us. God did not indeed us to sit on our rumps all day and not have health problems. Exercise is a way of life for me (and BTW I take no meds BTGOG). I won't even comment on our dietary intake in this country.

My father has been hospitalized 3 times in the last 4 years from medication interactions. If a person is on X amount of meds for various disorders when does it become a poisonous cocktail? How can you even test for medication interactions when you consider the ingredients in the cocktails and an individuals biochemical make up?

I feel modern medicine today has it's nose far to close to the problem and needs to take a step back and look at the big picture. This band-aid mentality of pill dispensing has got to stop. Just look at the history of Pellagra and it's vast array of symptoms (treatment B-3 or Tryptophan).
Neural tube defects (folic acid).../soapbox/off

BTW, is there a medical ping list?

[goresalooza]

Mark, I hear ya! I think you probably had a doctor who wasn't all that interested in helping you find an acceptable solution to your problem. Sometimes, they tend to stuff patients and their illnesses into a "cookie-cutter mold" treatment plan. They need to consider individuals and all our variations. As an RN, I've seen that some people have been helped with weekly counselling sessions, and plenty of fresh air and exercise instead of medications BUT there are some people for which medication DOES help. It helps to shop around for a good therapist from the beginning. Prayers up for your recovery, it's tough to deal with, for sure. Just take care of yourself and keep posting :)

[oxcart]

Anyone remember this? This went down right BEFORE prozac was introduced. If you know the workings of the Tryptophan/niacin pathway and the effect prozac and other antidepressants have on it...I had better adjust my tin foil hat now, I hear a drug company knocking at my door.

The FDA Ban of L-Tryptophan:
Politics, Profits and Prozac
by Dean Wolfe Manders, Ph.D.

---

In the fall of 1989, the FDA recalled L-Tryptophan, an amino acid nutritional supplement, stating that it caused a rare and deadly flu-like condition (Eosinophilia-Myalgia Syndrome — EMS). On March 22, 1990, the FDA banned the public sale dietary of L-Tryptophan completely. This ban continues today. On March 26, 1990, Newsweek featured a lead article praising the virtues of the anti-depressant drug Prozac. Its multi-color cover displayed a floating, gigantic green and white capsule of Prozac with the caption: “Prozac: A Breakthrough Drug for Depression.”

The fact that the FDA ban of L-Tryptophan and the Newsweek Prozac cover story occurred within four days of each other went unnoticed by both the media and the public. Yet, to those who understand the effective properties of L-Tryptophan and Prozac, the concurrence seems “unbelievably coincidental.” The link here is the brain neurotransmitter serotonin — a biochemical nerve signal conductor. The action of Prozac and L-Tryptophan are both involved with serotonin, but in totally different ways.

Elevated levels of serotonin in the body often result in the relief of depression, as well as substantial reduction in pain sensitivity, anxiety and stress. Prozac, as well as other new anti-depressant drugs such as Paxil and Zoloft, attempt to enhance levels of serotonin by working on whatever amounts of it already exist in the body (these drugs are known as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors). None of these drugs, however, produce serotonin. In contrast, ingested L-Tryptophan acts to produce serotonin, even in individuals who generate little serotonin of their own. The most effective way to elevate levels of serotonin would be to use a serotonin producer rather than a serotonin enhancer.

The continuing FDA public ban of L-Tryptophan prevents popular access to this most effective serotonin producer. The millions of Americans who for decades safely had relied upon L-Tryptophan to relieve depression, anxiety and PMS, as well as to control pain and induce natural sleep, have been forced elsewhere for solutions. Routinely, such solutions are pharmaceutical in nature: people are forced to use either often highly addictive, expensive, and sometimes dangerous drugs like Xanax, Valium, Halcion, Dalmane, Codeine, Anafranil, Prozac, and others, or, simply suffer.

Present FDA public policy maintains that L-Tryptophan is an untested, unapproved and hazardous drug. The analytical work done a few years ago by the Centers for Disease Control and the Mayo Clinic, research which traced the fall 1989 outbreak of the serious flu-like condition to contaminants found in batches of L-Tryptophan made by the Japanese company Showa Denko, has not convinced the FDA to allow L-Tryptophan back on the market. This decision is based primarily on the research of FDA and NIMH scientists who state that L-Tryptophan itself, irrespective of contaminants, is a dangerous substance. Other university-based research scientists disagree with these findings.

The public availability of L-Tryptophan is too important an issue only to be argued and shrouded within a scientific debate that remains, ultimately, mystifying to the vast majority of Americans. There are many obvious facts worthy of public attention, and public concern. For example, consider the following:

On February 9, 1993, a United States government patent (#5185157) was issued to use L-Tryptophan to treat, and cure EMS, the very same deadly flu-like condition which prompted the FDA to take L-Tryptophan off the market in 1989.
Notwithstanding its public ban and import alert on L-Tryptophan, the FDA today allows Ajinomoto U.S.A. the right to import from Japan human-use L-Tryptophan. Distributed from the Ajinomoto plant in Raleigh, North Carolina, the L-Tryptophan is then sold to, and through, a network of compounding pharmacies across the United States. Purchased by individuals only under a physician's order, L-Tryptophan emerges as a new prescription drug in the serotonin marketplace; one hundred 500 mg capsules cost about $75 — approximately five times more than if they were sold as a dietary supplement.
Since the FDA holds the political mandate and power of a public regulatory agency established, ostensibly, to protect people from raw corporate interests in drug production and distribution, the actions of the FDA in concert with Ajinomoto U.S.A. are illuminating. By publicly banning L-Tryptophan from its dietary supplement status and price, while allowing L-Tryptophan to be sold as a high-priced prescription drug, the naked duplicity of FDA L-Tryptophan policy is revealed.
During and after the 1989 EMS outbreak, the FDA did not totally ban the use of L-Tryptophan in humans — then, as today, the FDA has granted the pharmaceutical industry the protected right to use L-Tryptophan in hospital settings. Manufactured by Abbott Laboratories, the amino acid injectable solutions Aminosyn and Aminosyn II contain as much as 200 mg of L-Tryptophan. (Moreover, L-Tryptophan has never been removed from baby food produced and sold within the United States.)
While the FDA has banned the public sale and use of safe, non-contaminated, dietary supplement L-Tryptophan for people, the United States Department of Agriculture still sanctions the legal sale and use of non-contaminated L-Tryptophan for animals. Today, as in the past, feed grade L-Tryptophan continues to be used as a nutritional and bulk feed additive by the commercial hog and chicken farming industry. Additionally, L-Tryptophan is now available for use by veterinarians in caring for horses and pets. Outside of the United States, in countries such as Canada, the Netherlands, Germany, England, and others, L-Tryptophan is widely used. Nowhere, have any serious or widespread health problems occurred.

At bottom, the FDA public ban of safe, non-contaminated L-Tryptophan is uneven, expensive, and biased in favor of the pharmaceutical industry. The FDA proscription effectively awards billions of dollars in profits to pharmaceutical companies and their suppliers in the same proportion as it adds billions of unnecessary dollars to the nation's already bloated health care expenditures.

On June 15, 1993, the FDA Dietary Supplement Task Force published a report on the work it had been doing in the area of developing FDA policy around nutritional supplements. On page two, the report admits, “The Task Force considered various issues in its deliberations, including... what steps are necessary to ensure that the existence of dietary supplements on the market does not act as a disincentive for drug development.”

In this case, the FDA has succeeded in carrying out its stated policy goal. With competition from publicly available L-Tryptophan removed, the rapidly expanding market in prescription serotonin drugs — now among them L-Tryptophan itself — contains no major “disincentives” for the massive accumulation of pharmaceutical industry profits.

It is now time for appropriate congressional committees to review openly and aggressively the entire matter of L-Tryptophan. This will provide a needed forum where political, corporate, and scientific issues of FDA L-Tryptophan regulatory policy may be addressed. There exists ample precedent for such hearings: in the 1980's and early 1990's, for example, such investigations uncovered FDA favoritism in the approval of generic drugs and the bribery of FDA officials.

The story of L-Tryptophan illustrates a sad and perverse picture of the politics and priorities of public health in America: A safe, dietary-supplement serotonin producer is publicly unavailable to people, while daily fed to animals by corporate agribusiness. A drug patent is approved to use L-Tryptophan to cure the very condition the FDA claims it caused. And, while publicly exclaiming that L-Tryptophan is a dangerous and untested drug, the FDA, more quietly, allows human-use L-Tryptophan to be imported, and then marketed and sold by the pharmaceutical industry.

To allow the FDA ban of L-Tryptophan to continue unreviewed and uninvestigated condemns millions of Americans to unnecessary financial expenditures and needless suffering.


Copyright (c) 1995 by Dean W. Manders. All Rights Reserved. Used with permission.

Link; http://www.ceri.com/trypto.htm

[goresalooza]

I wish the APA would admit to the public that they don't have all the answers. They need to inform the public that psychiatric illness is sometimes difficult to treat, in many cases impossible to treat or cure unless the patient is locked away for life where he/she will not do any harm to themselves or others. For some illness, there is no cure ever. At least not at present.

I think the public's perception of mental illness and treatment largely differs from what the psychiatric profession can actively treat and cure. Most lay people think Prozac is peachy but they have no idea that it doesn't work for some and causes various side effects in others. For each and every medication available, some work and some don't for different people. The public tends to think that a pill is the answer to every medical diagnosis. I happen to believe that some medications work for some very well, and for other patients, other forms of treatment seem to work for them. It's whatever WORKS.

Many patients (not only ones with psychiatric illnesses) are not proactive in their treatment plans, either. I compare this to clapping with one hand. A patient can't simply take a pill and not do "his homework", i.e. use the tools that his therapist helps him to realize can help him. The public needs to realize that finding a good therapist and also using family and friends for support is the best plan of action they can take when treating their mental illnesses.

[imintrouble]

Agreed and yet as I caution regarding personal medication reaction, I thank the scientific community for coming up with answers and assistance too.

Our biological needs are all different - even with the foods we eat, therefore why would one kind of medication work for all of us?

Perhaps we expect too much - an instant cure?

In mental illness there are so many degrees of impairment, right down to the person who is convinced there is something "wrong", when an attitude adjustment will do.

There is for me a family member however who is a live, well, functioning genius who was plagued with schizophrenia for years after becoming ill around his 17th birthdate. He is now in his 30s and because of the advances is psychiatric medicine, has joined the world, has found pleasure again in being alive, has picked up his life from the 17th year onward and I will always be grateful.

The between years of various trials in medications were horror-filled. Finally one embraced his needs and we have him back.

It takes time, patience, and sometimes actually turning down all that is offered. It takes as you say - a proactive patient - who does his or her homework and doesn't rely on the doctor/therapist to do it all.

[goresalooza]

"I thank the scientific community for coming up with answers and assistance too. "

Indeed! And I'm glad your family member is better, too. It is a struggle for most patients, especially those with schizophrenia.

Good post, imin.

[It's me]

Here is a facinating book on the subject: The Politics of Deviance by Anne Hendershott.

[Aracelis]

Dr. Savodnik seems to be an interesting fellow, for as he is capable of great writing, as exemplified by his essay on Sartre's paradox of freedom, which appeared in the Boston Globe in June 2005. He can also lay claim to composing highly opinionated, but factually deficient essays. The subject of this thread is unfortunately one of the latter, wherein he bases most of his thesis on a strawman argument.

Savodnik places great emphasis on comparing physical illness with mental illness, for he asks the question, "Where, though, is the diseased tissue in psychpathological conditions?" With this one simple question, Savodnik sweeps under the rug numerous studies that have demonstrated atrophy of hippocampal tissue in response to chronic stress, and personality changes due to physical brain injury (e.g. Phineas Gage).

Savodnik's favorite diagnostic demon appears to be Seasonal Affective Disorder:

Seasonal Affective Disorder

SAD was first noted before 1845, but was not officially named until the early 1980’s. As sunlight has affected the seasonal activities of animals (i.e., reproductive cycles and hibernation), SAD may be an effect of this seasonal light variation in humans. As seasons change, there is a shift in our “biological internal clocks” or circadian rhythm, due partly to these changes in sunlight patterns. This can cause our biological clocks to be out of “step” with our daily schedules. The most difficult months for SAD sufferers are January and February, and younger persons and women are at higher risk. Symptoms Include:

• regularly occurring symptoms of depression (excessive eating and sleeping, weight gain) during the fall or winter months.
• full remission from depression occur in the spring and summer months.
• symptoms have occurred in the past two years, with no nonseasonal depression episodes.
• seasonal episodes substantially outnumber nonseasonal depression episodes.
• a craving for sugary and/or starchy foods.

Melatonin, a sleep-related hormone secreted by the pineal gland in the brain, has been linked to SAD. This hormone, which may cause symptoms of depression, is produced at increased levels in the dark. Therefore, when the days are shorter and darker the production of this hormone increases.

But Dr. Savodnik doesn't stop here, for he is also highly interested in the psychiatric revolution occuring within the former Soviet Union:

"Dr. Irwin Savodnik, a psychiatrist and philosopher who teaches at UCLA, has studied the shifting winds in psychiatry in the former Soviet Union. He found, that once psychiatrists were freed from Soviet dictatorship in 1992, they shed the straightjacket of "biological determinism." Today, those psychiatrists are avidly reading Freud in an effort to regain a humanistic perspective of human nature that biological psychiatry had eradicated."

The difficulties with this approach are multifaceted. First, Freud was not a humanist...in fact, Freud ultimately blamed probable victims of incest for desiring the encounters, and dismissed their recollections as simple fantasy.

Secondly, Freud was himself obsessed with sex and atheism, which ultimately caused the split between himself and Carl Jung. Freud vigorously denied that humans possess any need for spirituality.

Savodnik’s article is terribly troubling for another reason. Many individuals, including myself, are afflicted with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). According to Savodnik, our depression, anxiety, and suicidal ideations are character weaknesses, and not evidence of psychological problems. Once again, a credentialed psychiatrist is given a forum to openly blame victims of violence and abuse for their adjustment difficulties. I find it impossible to believe that a 10 year-old child who has just been sexually assaulted was in any way responsible for the encounter, but NAMBLA and other sexual predators would dearly love to see psychiatry follow Savodnik’s reasoning.

As far as medications for mental illness are concerned, once again Savodnik completely misses the point. Do drug companies have a stake in the number of individuals consuming their products? Yes. Are such medications prescribed indiscriminately? Again, yes, however blaming drug companies for the number of patients taking psychoactive medications is very much like blaming gun manufacturers for the number of murders committed each year with firearms. The responsibility rests with the physician and the patient to determine the best course of treatment…it does NOT lie with the pharmaceutical industry.

I am alive and functional today because of the combination of psychological and pharmaceutical therapies. Had I not had access to both of these types of treatment, the 10 year-old child I referred to earlier would have killed herself many years ago.

In my opinion, Dr. Savodnik’s publications and research should be taken with a very large grain of salt…if at all.

[cva66snipe]

There is one relief regarding loud noises or environmental pressure causing stress is internalizing noise, people, and consequently anxiety becomes more possible. One needs to turn themselves towards others....chat in line with other people, even start conversations to take the focus off one's feelings of turmoil and out of ones own problems. Even hooking up to portable earphone music as one shops can calm.

I wish it was that easy but it's not possible for ones like me. Read the link in post 58. It would only add to the problem. If loud environmental noise is around me I can't have a conversation at all. Even attempting it makes matters worse. This is because I can not process the background noise and their conversation both at once. To be more precise at that point I can't even function enough to shop. I loose the ability to concentrate. All I want at that point is out of the store and will come back either in a few minutes after a Xanax under the tongue or later at night. Good ear plugs help but I can't go that route either as I have to hear my cell phone in case my wife calls or hear her radio call if she is shopping in the store also.

One of the biggest offenders though is one most persons would never consider. There is nothing worse than to be at a red light and have someone using a stereo with high wattage bass enhancers near by. Try this and you'll understand it. The next time one of them is near by as tight as you can plug up your ears. You will not hear any higher frequency noises but you will hear the bass. Better yet you will then notice you feel it as well. The reason is low frequencies can more easily penetrate the body and the human skull is part of a persons hearing system.

The problem is so easily triggered I have to be careful about what I watch on TV also. For example the cartoon movie Lion King will produce an attack. Not because of content but the flashing special effects. But watching high drama shows is not wise with this. Despite the movie being fiction the brain still responds.

I taught my LCSW something. He had started a new support group for persons with G.A.D. I told him to ask how many of the persons feet hurt? Strange question but it has a purpose. The majority he said raised their hand. But what does it have to do with G.A.D.? It points to balance problems. Balance problems point ti Inner Ear Problems. Inner Ear problems are a precursor to anxiety disorder :>}

Three persons in my family had it and I'm the worse. One spent a fortune on doctors till an old retired GP asked about his childhood history such as tubes in ears. Then he asked about his tour of Nam {loud noises}. Then he said you have a damaged Inner Ear and prescribed accordingly.

Isolation because of panic is like pouring oil on a fire which is already blazing. One needs to expand into the world around even though frightening, to find it is not so bad at all as many people are having some measurable anxiety thesmelves - even if it is about spending too much money in a store, or deciding what to purchase (if there is a choice).

I'm not a canidate for Agoraphobia any longer as I understand my disorder and I manage the disorder :>}Seriously there is no fear involved. I am non phobic. I don't get scared I get agitated. I don't want out of the store as in a mad dash hyperventilation etc. I want out because I can not function.

I think you may misunderstand me. I am not isolated nor will I isolate myself to the world as such. I see my family regularly. Me and my wife live alone because the kids are grown. I get out & drive every day. I go shopping a few times a week. If I go let's say to my parents {daily} and the TV is on they turn it down or off. They know if they don't I can't understand a word that they are saying. Of if it is a family gathering I go to a far end of a table to talk to someone. That is so I can understand them. If the noise gets to me I leave the room and talk to someone outside one on one. Again so I can understand them.

It is a sensory processing disorder causing my G.A.D. and to function with it I have to limit offending events. Granted stress can add to it though. How I deal with it goes against all conventional theories for therapy for GAD but most who treat it do not understand this specific origin of GAD. As such they do more harm than good sometimes until they understand it. You can not desensitize anyone to it as it is a neurological disorder causing it. It is a matter of me as much as what is practical controlling my enviroment so it does not control me.