Posted by ricker on January 14, 2009, at 18:54:27
In reply to How much do we really know to say that we know?, posted by SLS on January 14, 2009, at 10:44:23
> How much do we really know to say that we know?
No more than a cancer patient needs...or wants to know about their treatment.
>
> I know enough to know that I don't know what causes depression.Welcome to the club.
>
> I know enough to know that I don't know how antidepressants work.Again, why do you need to know how they work?
>
> I feel fortunate that I know enough to know how much it is that I don't know.OK
>
> Are we really smarter than the neuroscientists? They claim not to know what many of us claim we do know.I would begin to worry if I thought, for one minute, I was smarter than the people that make my pills!
>
> Are we smart enough to recognize that which is merely conjecture on our part, and not fact?Depends on how stable we are...at the moment.
>
> How do I know?
>
> I don't.
>Again, why the need to know? The majority of all other illness's are treated.... some with much success, without the patient ever asking what their red, orange or yellow pill is doing.
They are content with the fact they're in remission. The mere fact that some people with mental disorders ruminate so much only confirms they're illness.... no matter how educated they are.
It's not out of ignorance that I can't recite every psychiatric med and it's pharmacology. Only when I'm not stable, obsessing about my mental state, is when I neurotically scour the Internet, looking for the magic pill.
I'm not suggesting it's unhealthy to educate one self with their meds, but, I believe there is a difference between that and living in front of a computer with the intent of making that miraculous discovery that thousands of well paid and educated scientists have attempted.
The more I know about psychiatric medicine, the sicker I am, or am becoming. Sad, but true, for me anyway.
poster:ricker
thread:873932
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20090104/msgs/874028.html