“In addition to the issue of on/off medicine is the issue is that the diagnostic tools are very poor. On AVERAGE psych medicines make things worse...because psychiatrists have to go through trial and error to such a high degree, and it usually takes multiple attempts before an improvement is seen, if at all. ...and then comes the dosage adjustments.”
I think in the long run, psych meds make things better. The patient can foul it up, by going on/off, or using mind altering substances.
I know several people that suffer from depression and take their meds as prescribed, and the result is they are far better.
But these are not substance abusers, attempting to self-medicate.
“I know several people that suffer from depression and take their meds as prescribed, and the result is they are far better”
I understand that. My comment is that choosing which medicine will get them to that improvement is poorly supported by diagnostic tools currently available. Typically it will take three or more attempts to get to one which provides an improvement...assuming the individual is an appropriate candidate at all. Sometimes the first one works. Sometimes the eighth one works, but only in combination with others. None of this is saying the medicines in the broad sense are useless, but rather that the first attempt is usually wrong, and the second and third attempts are often wrong.