Posted by med_empowered on May 1, 2006, at 20:50:22
In reply to Re: Drugging up old people with Atypicals, posted by linkadge on May 1, 2006, at 20:13:44
yeah...with the advent of the atypicals, I kind of wonder if we're returning to the "good old days" (1950s-1970s, roughly) of overusing antipsychotics--basiclaly, giving them to anybody and everybody to shut them up.
Back in the day, Thorazine was called "zombie juice" in Juvenile facilities b/c it was administered so often. Now prisoners call Seroquels "Quells". Old people used to get doped up on thioridazine, haloperidol, etc.--now its Zyprexa, Risperdal, etc.
"Hyperkinetic" children were once given Thorazine in place of (or, strangely, sometimes in addition to) Ritalin. Now we're seeing ADHD kids being given atypicals...sometimes alongside stimulants.
Personally, I find this all very disturbing. Even without tardive dyskinesia, antipsychotics have the potential to dullen and deaden a person's existence. Why is this "therapy" ? And why do shrinks feel so comfortable doing this to *SO MANY* people with different "issues" ?
poster:med_empowered
thread:638975
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20060429/msgs/639005.html