Posted by SLS on April 18, 2008, at 6:26:50
In reply to His resignation letter, posted by antiserial on April 18, 2008, at 0:08:39
Gosh.
You should also take a look at the piles of letters submitted to medical journals, as well as the content of those journals, that find drugs to be effective and necessary for the majority of people with PROPERLY DIAGNOSED affective disorders.
Does psychotherapy work as a global treatment for these disorders? No. Do drugs work as a global treatment for these disorders? No, but they do work. I dispute the conclusions of many authors who claim to demonstrate an equivalency between the two types of treatment. PROPERLY DIAGNOSED Major Depressive Disorder is not the same as "depression". Depression is but one symptom of a biological illness.
When a medical treatment works for people with severe depression, I assure you that many of them realize that there are magic pills. That's exactly how it feels. Penicillin is a magic pill, too, by the way. Thank God for medical science and pharmaceutical companies. Although the marketers and ghostwriters might not be particularly well liked at this point, we owe much to these sources of magic pills. You know, some very healthy minds are attacked with these affective disorders too. They may not have a single "issue" to be remediated. In other words, some of us have but ONE obstacle to overcome in order to be mentally healthy. That obstacle is a biological abnormality that seems to settle in the brain. Resetting the brain with drugs is a miracle. Resetting mine proved to be quite a challenge. I'm whistling a happy tune now. It is the most encouraging remission I have had in 25 years.
I find myself thanking God every 13 minutes or so for the existence of my magic pills.
I don't understand the motivations of people who make it their goal to refute the utility of our current treatments. I'm really not sure what is to be gained when speaking this way. I imagine some people are very angry that, up until now, drug treatments haven't worked or produced idiosyncratic intolerable side effects. Hell, I imagine many people are angry with God for their lack of success up until now. I was for a little while.
- Scott
poster:SLS
thread:823865
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20080412/msgs/823971.html