Posted by Abby on January 2, 2000, at 13:33:28
In reply to drug withdrawal from bipolar meds, posted by Judy on December 31, 1999, at 15:00:41
I don't want to upset Judy or be unsupportive, but
her decision to quit all medications really
concerns me. Certainly there are people who have
problems which could benefit from psycotherapy
alone and shouldn't be on any drugs. There are
other cases which are less clear cut, but rapid
cycling manic depression isn't one of them.
Someone with that condition should be on
medications. My mother has a variant of the
condition combined with delusions and she managed
to make our lives a living hell for years. I do
understand the perspective of the patient as well,
but please consider the consequences of your
actions on others.Having said that, finding the right combination can
be tricky. One place to contact might be the
Stanley center at Case Western reserve; you might
be able to find them on NAMI's web site.Dr. Breggin talks about the great conspiracy of
biological psychiatry, but I don't think it's
anything so concerted. He talks about drugs as
simply crutches for those who don't want to do the
hard work of sorting through their problems. He
sees us all being drugged with the modern "opiates"
prozac and paxil so that we won't care about
oppression.He is dead wrong on his theories about relapse
being simply withdrawal. I've seen many people
express reservation about anti-depressant
medicine, but even someone as devoted to natural
health as Andrew Weil says that manic-depressives
should be on mood stabilizers.He may believe what he says, but his presentation
of facts is distorted at best. For example, he
says that more psychiatrists are sued for giving
inappropriate and damaging drugs than for
witholding medication. This may be true, but the
reason is probably a legal one and not medical.
It is harder to prove by legal standards that
someone harmed you by neglect (i.e. not doing
something) than it is to prove that someone's
action e.g. giving you an antipsychotic
inappropriately caused damage.Moreover, in the case of untreated patients it is
probably their families who are most concerned;
they are either too discouraged or their resources
too depleted to consider a suit, or they have been
told that they probably won't win.The brain *is* difficult to understand and we are
still in the dark, but we don't really understand
cancer for that matteror non-steroidal
anti-inflammatory drugs--like aspirin or
ibuprofen.Sorry for the rant, but Breggin is still a medical
doctor and he ought to know something about how
scientific evidence is evaluated.
poster:Abby
thread:17735
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20000101/msgs/17841.html