Again?
I don’t know about psychiatrists but I know that other mental health workers do sometimes force their clients into programs that they don’t want to be in. My SO’s caseworker wants her in a different, yet similar, program but she’s happy in her current program. The caseworker knows this but started filling out the paperwork for her to switch programs anyway.
Look, I’m not saying that meds are necessarily the answer for everyone. Not all psychology is about meds. I’m saying I’m tired of his, “psychiatry is EVIL and shrinks are out to lock you up forever and ever!” schtick. A different perspective is welcome, but he does this every time someone makes a thread about mental health-coming in and saying it doesn’t exist, that there is NEVER a case where people should be treated, etc. It gets a little old.
And getting help != medication every time. I am on meds, yes, for an anxiety disorder. However, I also received counseling on how to cope with it.
(Oh, and ditto on Big Red’s comments on marriage. Dude, not everyone wants to be poly. If it works for you, great. Stop looking down on people who feel otherwise).
The problem is that psychiatry scarcely deserves the name of a science. No one knows exactly how the brain works and they probably won’t for centuries, if then. The brain is of a complexity that is quite staggering. We stumble along with hit-and-miss methods and medications, never quite sure why they work when they do work, or why they don’t when they don’t.
The simple truth is that we’re in the Dark Ages when it comes to the workings of the brain. There are no sure-fire answers; we’re not even certain we’re asking the right questions. Translated into terms of patient-care, this means that its a lottery. Sometimes medications will work, sometimes they won’t, sometimes they will make the patient worse, sometimes they will effect what seems like a miracle-cure.
So would I take medication if I were depressed? Perhaps surprisingly, in view of the above, I’d follow the advice of my doctor. He may not know everything but one thing is certain: he knows a hell of a lot more than I do.
I don’t agree with Ahunter on a lot but I find his viewpoint intriguing and I’m glad he shares it. (I will not, however, be subscribing to his newsletter.) He’s a good writer, and if he goes on a tirade I can just skim the post. Kytheria is an adult, and she’s able to weigh his advice along with everybody else’s.
Well, presumably all those people suggesting **Kytheria **seek help weren’t suggesting she see an otolaryngologist. It’s only reasonable that his warning be about the pertinent profession.
If we’re counting “votes”, I also don’t agree with most of what AHunter3 has to say about psychiatry, but I think he should keep saying it. It’s all factually correct, if extremely biased, and I think it’s important that prospective patients have all the information possible to make an informed consent, if that’s what they choose to do. Any thread on hormonal birth control has at least one horror story, as well as a bunch of “loved it!” posts. Bias in both directions leads to choice and fuller information. Why should mental health be a sacred cow?
Ok, do I get extra points for using the word “otolaryngologist” in a sentence? 
I don’t agree with a lot of AHunter3’s views about modern North American psychiartry. I’ve been in and out of treatment for over a decade, now, and the only time I was put inpatient was in a situation where even I recoginized it was a needed step. The only overbearing, controlling and non-listening twit I met during that time was the P.A. who’d had a wild hard-on about my weight, liver function, and cholesterol. (BTW, WTF’s up with having only doctors and P.A.s giving out diagnosis data from lab tests? Going through a weekend when I was convincing myself I must have had Hep C, because the nurses at the call station couldn’t tell me what the test results were, was the worst part of my whole experience with inpatient psychiartry.)
I don’t doubt his experiences, however. There are a lot of dark corners in the history of psychiartry, and not all of it is as far in the past as we might like to believe.
So, while I often roll my eyes when I read his posts, and feel some of them are almost as emotional and strident as my own posts about obesity, I don’t think he deserves pitting. There was already sufficient other information in Kytheria’s thread to give her a more balanced view of things. And, I have to add this - someone who’s read AHunter3’s position on modern psychiartry is likely to be more motivated to check out the current, and local, legal protections that patients have these days, which isn’t such a bad thing, IMNSHO.
Well, fair enough. Perhaps I jumped the gun a little. I guess I just tend to be rather sensitive because I’m tired of people saying things like, “Oh, it’s just bullshit, you’re making it up, you just need to suck it up and get over it, it’s not real, blah blah blah”, so when I read stuff like AHunter3, I tend to knee-jerk.
I suppose he does play a purpose, fine. I just find it irritating to have to deal with from time to time. No big deal, really.
Nope. Extra points not given for sentances which fail to make clear just what kind of specialist an otolaryngologist is.
Put me down as another vote for: I don’t always agree with AHunter3’s viewpoint, and he may sometimes go too far in expressing it(the soapbox thing), but I absolutely think he needs to keep reminding us that the dark corners of psychiatry are not always as far back in history as we would like to believe.
My daughter had to go see an otolaryngologist when her doctors suspected hearing problems. She said her hearing was fine, and her nose and throat looked wonderful as well!
(Now do I get the points? )
I’m in the AHunter3 corner, for the most part. I think psychiatry has become more business and less medicine in the last couple decades. I think It’s turned us into a nation of pussies, incapable of dealing with life.
That’s not to say many people can’t or don’t benefit from it. But fercrissakes…feeling crappy about the rough spots in life, and medicating so you don’t feel them, doesn’t always mean you need a doctor’s care.
Again, depression !=“feeling crappy about the rough spots in life”, nor does psychology automatically mean medication!
AHunter3 is one of my favorite posters. That doesn’t mean I don’t want to poke him in the nose on occasion, but I think he’ll remain one of my favorites.
The problem with the brain is we don’t know what we don’t know. Who is right? Who knows? Certain things work for certain people. And I think we’d all agree with one thing: It isn’t someone’s fault if they show symptoms that can be attributed to one syndrome or another.
That part, at least, we might be coming out of the dark ages on.
Then why did you and so many others urge Kythereia to run to the Doctors and get help?
She took an online survey. She did not say I have been having really dark moods for years. She just said
Ask for more information; suggest something less drastic than therapy and drugs.
I’m glad this has helped you but if Ky is just in a bad spot, the drugs could do more harm than good.
Jim
WhyNot,
OK, you can have the points now.
Interestingly enough, I know a woman who is married to an otolaryngologist. So, when a mutual friend was coughing enough that people recommended she see a doctor, the wife pointed out “I know someone who can take care of that for you” frequently.
No, but psychiatry practically does.
Again, for the thick-skulled:
Seeing a doctor does NOT automatically mean go take meds! How many times do I have to repeat it?
As for the online survey, that’s for Kythereia to decide. Maybe she is having a bad time and decided not to go into details. Maybe it was just some bullshit survey. The point is, if she THINKS she may be suffering from depression, what the fuck is so gung-ho about asking one’s doctor, “Gee, I’ve been feeling such and such, what does this mean?”
I guess I am one of the Thick-skulled, thanks for resorting to insults.
The problem with asking the doctor over something that might be minor and temporary is that some doctors prescribe Meds too easily. If they get her on meds it can actually cause her more problems. Do you understand that possibility?
Jim {did you notice that I refrained from insulting you for no good reason}
You’ve got a point there, and I appologize.
However, by your logic, one would assume, “Never go to the doctor, because he or she might screw up and make things worse!” Honestly, part of dealing with something like this is taking it one step at a time.
“Okay, I THINK I might be having a problem. I will call an expert and see what he or she has to say.” She doesn’t have to automatically take that doctor’s word-that’s what second opinions are for. Don’t start creating new problems before you’ve solved the first one.
Make sense?
I believe people are taking issue with your use of the word “psychiatrist.” A psychiatrist is a medical doctor with the attendant privilege of writing prescriptions for medication. A psychologist, by contrast, usually cannot write prescriptions and therefore tends not to prescribe drugs (a psychologist may instead work with a medical doctor, such as a GP, or may refer to a psychiatrist if he/she believes medication is warranted). Thus, a recommendation that someone see a psychiatrist rather than a psychologist could be taken as a recommendation that medication be considered as a primary option. After all, if medication doesn’t need to be part of the package, why see a psychiatrist?
You never fail to crack me up. 