What makes you think he is the only “other” professional posting on this thread?
Psychology and psychiatry are at best fringe psuedo-science. NO ONE, and I mean NO ONE can claim to know how, let alone why, aberrant behaviour occurs in humans. Some of these drugs do work for a very short time, but what are they really doing? Long term, they are dangerous. And I don’t care how long you have been practicing. Very little is yet understood about brain functions. Synthetic drugs which the body does not have on its own, deposit themselves in receptors meant for other things and fundamentally repress and change natural responses. Instead of teaching an individual how to control and overcome out of sync responses that are often normal and fitting to a situation, these drugs mask them so that the responses are artificial, instantaneous, and often overwhelmingly OUT of control. These drugs do NOTHING to enhance self-control. In fact, they do the exact opposite.
Klonopin, which is most often used to reduce the effects and seizures of epilepsy and suppress involuntary nerve disorders like twitching and facial tics also has a tranquillizing effect. Given to a patient who has NONE of these symptoms and who doesn’t need it, it can, and does, create what it is supposed to control.
Taking it as an anti-anxiety drug while taking zanax and antidepressants is downright dangerous. Not to mention it is addictive.
So again. Is the above mentioned “cocktail” something YOU would prescribe for anyone, let alone someone who needs to adjust to the world as it is? NONE of these drugs can remove the causes of the anxiety or the depression and most people do not take themselves away from the causes. The drugs let them exist in a situation that should, but does not change. Instead, they stay in therapy and talk about the same things for literally years. No one gets better. So I ask you, as a “professional,” do you truly believe you are doing the best thing for a patient by introducing drugs like these?
After years on the battlefield or in the trenches, many American soldiers are showing signs of psychological distress. An increasing number of soldiers are turning to medication to alleviate their symptoms.
Some have unfortunately committed suicide, but ABC News has been told that an increasing number — at least 8 percent of the force — are now using pills to treat themselves. Some are turning to antidepressants, such as Prozac, Zoloft and Paxil, which are prescribed right on the front lines.
“We are sending soldiers into the field, into combat missions, who are suicidal,” said former Air Force psychologist Jason Prinster. “And we are prescribing medication that has significant side effects.”
He also told ABC News that the Army's culture of treating physical injuries as more serious than psychological ones can lead to bad operating procedure, in his opinion. “If your leg is broken, if you have a physical problem, you can stay inside the wire. If you are anxious, afraid, hopeless, it's not OK,” he said.
Soldiers say the side effects can affect their combat readiness; some medications cause sluggishness and disorientation. Army Sgt. Chuck Luther told ABC News that “some would make me more depressed, some would make me jittery.”
Soldier Said He Was Given Prescriptions, No Therapy
Luther was an Army sergeant based in Taji, Iraq. He told ABC News he didn't get therapy for his emotional problems, just drugs to help him make it through his deployment.
“Mortars would come in … suicide bombers. It was taking a toll on me … and then seeing fellow soldiers being killed in front of you.”
ABC News asked Col. John Looper, an Army psychologist stationed in Iraq, what he thought of the prescriptions. “If the treating clinician feels that a given service member might be restored to full functioning with a course of antidepressant medication or anti-anxiety medication, we have the wherewithal to do that,” he told us.
The military is making an effort to provide therapy to service members having mental health issues, but given the remoteness of some bases, it is not always possible, and remains a real concern.
Your rant suggests a personal agenda that is not compatible with professional behavior or scientific method. In what field are you a professional?
What is this, playing games with our soldiers' lives so they can gain research in future--or just plain insanity??
Many doctors & especially psychologists are unstable, to put it lightly.