![[dr. bob]](/dr-bob-sm.gif)
Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 1 to 3 of 3. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by Mr. Scott on January 6, 2002, at 23:29:02
What has become of me? What has become of so many of us? Trying to make life more tolerable with pills manufactured by corporate giants with an interest in nothing more than profit. Pills being pushed on us and we willingly accept them from a bunch of second rate docs who couldn't stand the site of blood or shoving their fingers in someones rear-end. This is not the answer...science is too far away from a physiological cure for mental illness. We can only hope for half measures and accept the inevitable and often intolerable side effects these drugs deliver us. And this is where so many hopes and dreams lie, and so much money is spent, and time wasted, in the pursuit of biological happiness. It is the irony of our time, that science has hinted at helping the shy and sad but cannot fully deliver on such a promise. And yet the world expects us to take these pills and act normal and drag on pretending to be like those without our vision. Our vision is painful to us, but more importantly it is disruptive to the rest of the world...and so we feel guilty and take pills. And we feel numb...and for a while things are okay and our employers gain more productivity from us, and our parents feel like it isn't so much their fault. And the others feel more comfortable around us. But our vision is no less accurate, it has been around for eternity, and it has a distinct value that cannot be lost. Utopia is a dangerous place.
Often times I am not happy and thats okay. The world can just deal with it. I can deal with it.There is a car I want...And so I will go without a couple appointments with my pompous arrogant self serving shrink each month so I can have it. He could balance equations and I could not...therefore he gets to write the scripts and I get to take them. That is all that seperates us. And of course that I am a better person.
Scott
Posted by Lini on January 7, 2002, at 9:40:53
In reply to Steam, posted by Mr. Scott on January 6, 2002, at 23:29:02
> What has become of me? What has become of so many of us?
some of us are trying to survive. the same way a chemotherapy or heart transplant patient is. And just like Utopia isn't on the other side of a heartattack or a cancer diagnosis, not many of us are looking for it in an AD pill. we're just trying to keep the proverbial gun from our temple, and thankfully there is a group of people who can balance equations to help us do it. i don't buy the whole concept that capitalism is the devil incarnate, granted our society is still a silly teenager, but me and my Zoloft are optimistic that it will evolve.
i wish you well with your new car, and hopefully finding a better pdoc than the one you have. simply surviving IS the one vision that has been around for a long time...
Posted by kid_A on January 7, 2002, at 11:37:19
In reply to Steam, posted by Mr. Scott on January 6, 2002, at 23:29:02
> What has become of me? What has become of so many of us?
The pharma industry is not unlike any other fascist/capitalistic enterprise in that its primary concern is in producing revenue... Im no defender of the pharma inudstry but I do think we unfairly (if that is not too overly kind a word) place some blame on them where none should be.
First I want to qualify that that it is a fascist enterprise in that as in all capitalist enterprieses the decisions come from the top and go downwards, in that scope it could be said to be fascist.
Now, rather than the pharma industry itself, who is simply selling a product, amoungst many competetitors that is in experimental study shown to have some positive effect, it is us, the consumer who perhaps too willingly are lulled into a notion that the industry itself promises a cure all.
Pharma PR is a great mechanism that works in a bilateral direction, in one aspect it attempts to lure doctors into a preconcieved notiont that drug A is preferable to drug B, in fact, when polled many psychiatrists said that they got a primary amount of information concerning new drugs from ad copy in medical journals, rather than statistics or studies. In another aspect it attempts to lure the consumer to a preconfigured oppinion that drug A may be right for them, rather than drug B.
Whats the problem with all of this? The plain facts are that there is no perfect solution in psychopharmacology... Everyone is different and a drug that works great for one person works horribly for another. One person may experience painfull side effects while another person does not. The general consensus however, especially if you polled the members of this board, is that in some aspect the medication that is being taken has -some- positive side effect which is preferable to the lack of that medication.
Speaking personally, I can say that this is the case. I can also say that I never could have been prepared for the side effect that I have suffered -despite- reading all of the literature beforehand and listening to other's first hand accounts. I can also say that my life on medication has finally after 30 years taken me further than I have been able to personally; this is allong with talk therapy, a cruicial and oft over looked part of psychotherapy.
We are target markets and consumers, when we stop acting like consumers we'll be able to see the big picture, and make positive personal decisions about our own future.
Wishing you luck.
kid(a).
This is the end of the thread.
Psycho-Babble Social | Extras | FAQ
Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.org
Script revised: February 4, 2008
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/cgi-bin/pb/mget.pl
Copyright 2006-17 Robert Hsiung.
Owned and operated by Dr. Bob LLC and not the University of Chicago.