Posted by Racer on October 18, 2005, at 13:52:26
In reply to Re: Treatment or control? Thanks so much,, posted by med_empowered on October 18, 2005, at 0:34:30
Although my little brain ain't up to much this morning, I did want to put a few thoughts out there on this subject, because I think you've hit on something important. Forgive me if I can't make myself clear this morning, and feel free to ask for clarification of anything I try to write...
>>>I think maybe this de-humanization of suffering human beings into "patients" and "subjects" explains how psychiatry is sometimes capable of such horrible, inhumane, unscientific MIS-treatment; lobotomy, insulin shock, metrazol, high-dose neuroleptics, so on and so forth. I'm worried that with our growing reliance on medication, and our conceptualization of misery and despair as being "a chemical thing", out of our control, we may well enter into another dark period of invasive, damaging procedures and widespread degradation.
I agree that there is a trend towards decontextualizing psychiatry these days, but I don't think it's related so much to the medications available or to the psychiatrists who prescribe them, so much as it is to a trend generally in the past decade or two. It seems as though this is happening all over the board -- I'm thinking of things like the standardized tests in school that are driving the curriculum, or the new bankruptcy laws that just went into effect. It seems to be related to the trend towards having paraprofessionals take over so many professional duties, which -- surprise! -- saves money. In order to allow, say, a PA to do the prescribing rather than bringing in a fully trained MD, there's gotta be a pretty cut and dried protocol to reduce liability: if the PA listens to a patient, and then says, "well, in my opinion, the best choice of medication for you is [x]" there's a liability issue if that medication causes a problem. On the other hand, if there's a protocol in place that says 'the following symptoms are treated first by drug [x], then if that doesn't work try drug [y]' you've just removed that issue. This is true for doctors, too, when you think about it. In today's litigious America, at least, a lot of doctors practice with self-protection at the back of their minds, so prescribing based on a pretty simple formula would make sense.
I don't know. Maybe I'm just nuts, but I do think that there's a problem with this sort of thing all over the boards these days. I don't think it's any sort of malice on the part of doctors, but I do think it's a real phenomenon.
Of course, that's not even mentioning the health insurance plans that will cover psychotropic medications, but not psychotherapy...
There. Some of what's in my mind today.
By the way, Med_empowered, I do find your posts consistently thought provoking, and I appreciate that. Please take this as constructive criticism, and not any sort of personal criticism: I also find many of them hard to read because they lack paragraphs. I know, it's mostly my aged eyes, but I *want* to read them so much, I thought I'd mention it to you.
Thank you.
poster:Racer
thread:567099
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20051017/msgs/568562.html