No I did not and am not saying that. I was using hyperbole to make a point. I said I wouldn't take a single dose of those pharmaceutical psychotropics and I wouldn't. Taking one dose implies that I would be starting a regimen of them. Having seen their effects on several people and having heard the same thing from numerous people who have come to me for health care advice and having taking my fathers opinion of the psychiatric field to heart I'd rather spend the rest of my life depressed than submit to that chemo-lobotomy.
Medicine isn't what it used to be. I know of one doc who was handing out Prozac to help his patients quit smoking. It worked. They didn't care about smoking anymore. Unfortunately they didn't care about anything else either. Work, shopping, watching their kids. I heard this story from one of his 'patients'. He said his wife put an end to it when he responded to her desire to make love with "I don't care.". If the nature of the drugs effect is so predictable that a doctor can assure his patients that they will stop smoking because they won't care one way or the other about smoking, and apparently anything else, then that indicates it is not an effect isolated to specific individuals.
Why do people need a drug for every emotion to get through life now? This wasn't the case for centuries prior. I recently heard a radio ad looking for participants in a drug trial at the University of Colorado School of Medicine in Denver. They were looking for people who "felt uncomfortable in social situations". Psychopharmaceuticals to the rescue! Now you too can feel like the prom queen. You don't need to develop social skills or a positive self image just pop a pill.
Now about the smoking...let me tell you a little about my experience. I tried to quit smoking and did ok for the first day. The second day, I was totally obsessing about having a cigarette. Smoking is for many people a compulsive thing, a nervous habit. I couldn't fight the urge every 20 minutes for a prolonged period of time. I had to keep my mind fully and completely focused upon something else so that I wouldn't think about smoking. It was exhausting and I gave up.
My mother used welbutrin when she stopped smoking, in addition to the patch. The meds helped her, not because they made her "not care", but because it was easier for her to control and deal with her thoughts. She didn't have to fight against them. As far as the rest of her life and functioning, there was mild relaxing effect, but not nearly to the extent to which it interfered with anything.
My mother also, for a short period of time, was prescribed valium. This was years and years ago. That med really did make her not care about anything. Her sisters came over, saw the house a mess and my brothers running wild while mom sat blissfully on the couch and demanded she stop taking the med.
I think meds can be helpful. They can also be abused. Just like anything else.
I have also seen the effects on a number of people, and everything is fine. People react differently to all sorts of things.
You certainly have the right to decide for yourself not to take medications. Personally, the only thing that keeps me going day to day is the hope that I won't feel this way forever. I'd rather be run over by a truck tomorrow than spend the rest of my life this way.
I'd rather people who feel like I do get good, balanced information. Hysterical talk about "chemo-lobotomies" helps no one.