Posted by Garnet71 on January 28, 2009, at 11:12:30
Being the hyper-contextual thinker that I am, I want to list several things going on here in the field of mental health, then elaborate on these points. This is sort of in response to the type of thinking (not to anyone in particular) "there are no studies that suggest a link or causation between permanent damage and long-term antidepressant use".
I strongly think that narrowing down variables to derive proposed solutions is one of the main reasons why problems are not solved - both within and outside the field of psychiatry or psychology or neuroscience or whatever. There are so many variables in life, I believe they should ALL be considered when solving problems, whenever possible anyway.
- groupthink
- the medical-industrial complex
- politics
- money
- science itself
- the training of psychiatrists and other experts
- lack of out-of-the-box type thinking
- lack of creative thinking
- lack of interdisciplinary methods
- above average attractiveness of pharmaceutical salespeople (haha-had to wake you up); as funny as it sounds, this is a variable, imoI don't think it's too idealistic to suggest throwing a bunch of different types of cognitive thinkers and professionals and people with life experience into a room on a regular basis to try to solve problems.
For example-combine left-brained and right-brained thinkers, the hard scientific thinkers, the intuitive thinkers (I am in this category), the anti-psychiatry people, psychiatrists, neurologists, and artists...for discussion. Look at Meyers-Briggs - include one person from each type.
Now to use the example I wrote above, "there are no studies that suggest a link or causation between permanent damage and long-term antidepressant use" - in context with this comment some of you are probably thinking is strange, consider the list of variables above:
1. The medical industrial complex - how many studies are actually funded that even look at long-term damage and psychiatric meds?
2. Groupthink - the experts are so 'experted' they ignore the obvious THIS IS VERY COMMON in all fields and aspects of life (if you are in doubt, just look at how all the Yale and Harvard grads cannot solve the problems in the US - in fact, many of them make the problems worse)
3. Money - the ultimate motivator to action
4. Science itself - if something is not proven by science, then it does not exist
5. Your psychiatrist - just because your psychiatrist never came across a study that SSRIs, etc, cause permanent damage - that does not mean he/she is correct
6. Your psychiatrist (again) - maybe your psychiatrist is a sociopath, doesn't care about you, has a miserable life, has many problems, is going through a divorce, etc. They are only human and subject to human errors.
7. Science (again) - I have problems with the model and concept of 'theory'; then again, I don't have a better alternative. There may be better alternatives that have not yet been invented. Maybe some genious will derive one, someday. Something like a diagnostic approach in lieu of theory.
8. Groupthink, groupthink, groupthink...Okay, so take the statement I originally pointed out about long-term psychiatric drug damage...and compare with the online groups of people popping up all over the net - groups of people who say their sexual ability has permanently ceased (suspected autonomic nervous system damage some say)..and that they had taken say, Prozac, long term..and the sexual symtpoms started shortly thereafter...now they lost the inability to have orgasms and have ED...now the reason for the disability could be factors totally outside the psychiatric field, but THINK of the other variables, such as those I listed above, in context with this situation. THINK
Okay, so the categories are interrelated and blurred, or I blurred them. I'm not trying to write an essay, this is just a comment on a message board, and I am just spitting out the words as they come to mind. I will write later; I don't have much time now but wanted to throw this thought out in the universe.
Disclaimer: These are my opinions; my conclusions are based upon personal experience, intuition, education (mostly unrelated to psychiatry), knowledge of others experiences and things I have read. Furthermore, I am not implying my opinions are correct are better than those of others.
poster:Garnet71
thread:876756
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20090104/msgs/876756.html