in this day and age, it's very rare to find someone who isn't on medicine of some sort. pink pills, green pills, pills shaped like glandular organs. and i'm sure that some of these are just concoctions promoted aggressively by drug companies hoping for a quick buck from a public dying for a quick fix.
that said, medicine serves a purpose. far be it from me to decry skepticism as something to be avoided. i'm a law student, for crying out loud. idealism and romanticism died with my acceptance letter.
i am an advocate of natural remedies. diet, herbal supplements, and vitamins. but i recognize that there are some things that cannot be helped by st. john's wort or slippery elm. depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder are just as physical as endocrine problems or birth defects**. you cannot fix your brain chemistry. you can try and regulate it via biofeedback, acupuncture, feng shui, but if you are predisposed to a lower level of seratonin, all the logic in the world will not help hoist you out of the angry reds or the sour blues.
scientology, for this reason, gives me the symptoms of an aneurysm. "if it weren't for my horse...". thoughtfully prescribed medicine is not a crutch, or something that characterizes a patient as inherently weak. you would never hear the following conversation:
"she's on chemotherapy."
"oh, you mean she can't tough it out? pathetic."
and since depression and other mental disorders have been proven to be chemical imbalances in some cases, you likewise should not hear or promote the following:
"she's on zoloft."
"oh, you mean she can't tough it out? pathetic."
that's my two cents for the day. more like a dime, but it's pesach, so i'm running a special.
**disclaimer: this presupposes that you have been to therapy and undergone extensive psychological treatment for said disorders, and the symptoms have still not dissipated or weakened. supposedly less than 10% of depression is likely caused by chemical issues, and most of the time, those can be linked to other underlying disorders, such as hypothyroidism.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
i think much of this general predisposition towards looking down on medication stems from that initial belief in the medical community (and the rest of the community, for that matter) that it's all in your head. granted, i have heard different variations of that belief, from flat-out condemnation of medication to even simply saying that you can't control stress, but you can control how you react to stress. i'll admit it, i'm sometimes guilty of the latter. however, even i agree that different people react to emotional issues in different ways, and it's extremely difficult to change that, especially when it is rooted in biology. i think that what many people don't realize is that when you have a chemical imbalance that predisposes you to anxiety, depression, or bipolar disorder, you simply cannot improve that through logic or reasoning. you physically cannot function in any other way, without medical intervention.
that being said, pills shaped like organs should be included in anatomy lessons and pharmacology lessons all over the country. coming from someone who had to teach herself what treats what over spring break, pills shaped like little hearts and pills shaped like little stomachs would be a most excellent teaching aid.
that and i get to eat people's hearts. what's not to love?
Post a Comment