Posted by zonked on June 19, 2010, at 10:27:49 [reposted on June 20, 2010, at 2:48:19 | original URL]
In reply to Re: shrinks+self-destruction..., posted by mrtook on June 19, 2010, at 9:54:58
Hmm.
I have never been forced to take medication against my will; then again I have never been violent or physically self destructive--when I've been offered meds I didn't want to take I simply told the doctor I didn't feel comfortable with a particular drug and moved on.
I think if you want to become a psychiatrist or NP, you need to spend a lot of time on a psych unit treating disorders spanning the entire DSM (and beyond) I'd feel uncomfortable dealing with violent or highly psychotic patients..
I totally get why psychiatrists are stressed--what if (like me) repeated med trials didn't work? Or if the treatment caused intolerable or adverse side effects? Or if a patient achieved remission and a med stopped working; or worse, a patient paid the ultimate price for a treatment not working soon or well enough?
Cut psychiatrists a break. Yeah, there are good and bad pdocs like any other profession.
Some of us need medication in order to function. No amount of therapy, deep breathing, religion, good diet and exercise or vitamins will ever be enough to pull some of us out of our misery. I wish they worked alone but are only complementary therapies for me, and only with meds as a foundation--and when the meds are working, they do help.
(Except religion. I am a secular humanist/agnostic. Oh, and deep breathing has never worked either! Heh.)
Having said that, I do think too many people reach for meds too soon, people without clinical affective disorders, but that is a complex issue--it is the fault of the pharma industry, many psychiatrists who need their money to do research, and an American government which does not properly regulate pharmaceutical advertising or properly fund or regulate psychiatric research so it is not excessively influenced by profit motives.
This has been a *great* thread for--I'll continue to keep myself educated as long as I am a patient, but I don't think I'd want the responsibility of caring for the mental health of strangers, even if I was well for a long time....
-z
poster:zonked
thread:951547
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/social/20100528/msgs/951562.html