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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 1 to 7 of 7. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by beckett2 on April 2, 2019, at 0:54:00
If you're not behind the New Yorker's paywall, a good essay. There is an excellent audio version on the Audm app.
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2019/04/08/the-challenge-of-going-off-psychiatric-drugs
Posted by SLS on April 2, 2019, at 9:29:40
In reply to NYer essay on psych drug detox, posted by beckett2 on April 2, 2019, at 0:54:00
> If you're not behind the New Yorker's paywall, a good essay. There is an excellent audio version on the Audm app.
>
> https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2019/04/08/the-challenge-of-going-off-psychiatric-drugsThere are valuable lessons to be learned here. There isn't very much formalized study of drug-discontinuation syndromes and how to minimize them. Also lacking is the study of how long-term drug treatment changes the brain, and how persistent these changes are after a drug has been discontinued. I only skimmed the article, but I did not find any mention of how psychiatric drugs can dramatically improve how people experience life after years of torment and living in a vegetative state. Up until now, doctors have been hampered by a lack of scientific data and understanding. Choosing treatments has largely been trial-and-error using drugs with disturbing side effects. Obviously, there are too many people for whom drug treatment produces disappointing - and sometimes negative results. The same can be said about other types of illnesses. Psychiatric drugs can save lives and make them worth living. However, there is a need for finding new treatments and optimizing old ones. Psychiatry is not the work of the devil, as some people would like us to believe.
Robert Whitaker
Irving Kirsch
Joseph Glenmullen
David Healy
Peter Breggin
- Scott
Posted by baseball55 on April 2, 2019, at 19:27:35
In reply to Re: NYer essay on psych drug detox, posted by SLS on April 2, 2019, at 9:29:40
iObviously, there are too many people for whom drug treatment produces disappointing - and sometimes negative results. The same can be said about other types of illnesses.
> - Scott
>
>
This is actually not true. Most cancer drugs work for only small % of people,
Also most drugs for neurological disorder (seizures, MS, Parkinso\.n's, etc) - brain disorders, including mental health, are notoriously difficult to treat.
Very little is understood about cancer and neurological etiology. Drugs are hit-or-miss.
But even things where the physiology is better understood, treatments are hit-or-miss. Knee pain, back pain treatments work as well as sham surgery or placebo drugs. Migraines? No idea what causes them and standard treatments work no better than placebos.And then there are those where the physiology is completely understood but no treatment has been found that works consistently- lupus, sickle-cell anemia, malaria, IBS - the list goes on and on.
Posted by baseball55 on April 2, 2019, at 19:30:00
In reply to Re: NYer essay on psych drug detox, posted by baseball55 on April 2, 2019, at 19:27:35
Wow! Sorry Scott! I read "can't" when you wrote "can."
Posted by beckett2 on April 3, 2019, at 16:52:18
In reply to Re: NYer essay on psych drug detox, posted by SLS on April 2, 2019, at 9:29:40
> > If you're not behind the New Yorker's paywall, a good essay. There is an excellent audio version on the Audm app.
> >
> > https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2019/04/08/the-challenge-of-going-off-psychiatric-drugs
>
> There are valuable lessons to be learned here. There isn't very much formalized study of drug-discontinuation syndromes and how to minimize them. Also lacking is the study of how long-term drug treatment changes the brain, and how persistent these changes are after a drug has been discontinued. I only skimmed the article, but I did not find any mention of how psychiatric drugs can dramatically improve how people experience life after years of torment and living in a vegetative state. Up until now, doctors have been hampered by a lack of scientific data and understanding. Choosing treatments has largely been trial-and-error using drugs with disturbing side effects. Obviously, there are too many people for whom drug treatment produces disappointing - and sometimes negative results. The same can be said about other types of illnesses. Psychiatric drugs can save lives and make them worth living. However, there is a need for finding new treatments and optimizing old ones. Psychiatry is not the work of the devil, as some people would like us to believe.
>
> Robert Whitaker
> Irving Kirsch
> Joseph Glenmullen
> David Healy
> Peter Breggin
>
>
> - Scott
>
>I didnt read the essay as anti medication, although a quick or biased reading might think its reinforcing a bias they already hold.
Posted by Lamdage22 on April 4, 2019, at 2:48:44
In reply to Re: NYer essay on psych drug detox, posted by SLS on April 2, 2019, at 9:29:40
It produces an artificial state of happiness. I think that root causes should be explored for everyone before they get on medication. Medication can postpone the discovery of root causes. It can make you go longer without getting the right help.
Posted by Lamdage22 on April 4, 2019, at 4:47:48
In reply to Re: NYer essay on psych drug detox, posted by Lamdage22 on April 4, 2019, at 2:48:44
IF they work...
This is the end of the thread.
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