Comments on: Medicating People Because It’s Easier than Talking to Them

By: ANN MARIE

ANN MARIE — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 17:13:31 +0000

I DON’T LIKE THE LABELING FACTOR AT ALL, WHY LABEL PEOPLE AS SICK, MENTALLY ILL,CONFUSED,
PSYCHOTIC’S, CRAZY, LOONY, WHAT EVER YOU WANT TO CALL IT, IT’S WRONG!!! WHY CAN’T IT BE WE ALL JUST NEED HELP FROM TIME TO TIME. WHY GIVE IT A LABEL. FROM WHAT I’VE LEARNED LABEL’S ONLY HURT A PERSON MORE BECAUSE IF THEY ARE LABELED THERE NOT SO CALLED “NORMAL!”
WHAT IS NORMAL? DOES ANYONE HAVE THE CORRECT MEANING OF NORMAL, BECAUSE WHAT SOME FEEL IS NORMAL OTHER’S DO NOT! THE STIGMA BEHIND ALL THIS IS HORRIBLE!!! WHEN A PERSON GET’S SUCH A LABEL HOW ARE THEY TO DEAL WITH IT, WHEN SOCIETY TURN’S THERE BACK AND SHUT’S THE DOOR!
I THINK LABEL’S SUCH AS THE ONE’S USED HERE SHOULD BE THROWN IN THE TRASH WERE THEY BELONG, SO EVERYONE CAN GO ON LIVING WITHOUT THE FEAR OF BEING LABELED AND LOOKED DOWN ON BECAUSE SOCIETY DOESN’T WANT TO EXCEPT A PERSON WITH SUCH A LABEL AND IF YOU DON’T BELIEVE ME GIVE YOURSELF ONE OF THESE LABEL’S AND SEE HOW PEOPLE TREAT YOU!!! LABEL’S ARE WHAT I WOULD CALL NOT NORMAL!!!

By: Jen

Jen — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 20:40:10 +0000

Interesting debate – that I’m happy to see still occurs. I actually decided a long time ago that the over-use of medication (anti-psychotics in particular) was a reason that I didn’t want to go into psychiatry as a profession. Everyone knows someone they would “dub” psychotic and I have far too much success in talking to the so-called psychotic and reaching that “human” aspect of them. When I was a teenager, I used to wonder about talking to a “true” psychotic, someone who has already been diagnosed. While it is true that the situation could fly out of your control and you could lose your life, I refuse to believe that medicating is the answer to all types of psychosis. As an adult, I’ve found it is quite possible to reach what I call a common ground aspect, but only if you can remove the element of fear that the person who’s suffering the psychosis has (the fear triggers fight/flight and one in throes of psychosis needs to choose to feel balanced again – when fear isn’t eliminated, they generally choose to fight being that flight isn’t an option due to current laws stating these people must be detained “for their own good”). To me, the million dollar question is “How do you remove the fear?” The answer I’ve decided on is that it is definitely very different for every human being out there. I’d love to see a study on the research of how people overcome fear – deeper than the “I just faced it and overcame it” aspect. In my humble opinion, it may unlock some of the unanswered questions we have about psychotics.

In response to the posts…I don’t necessarily agree with the idea of it being an illness. Not everyone needs to be “normal” in your eyes, nor do we need cookie cutter personalities. It’s an illness only when it’s been accepted as one – and not all “mentally ill” will give in and accept. I honestly believe that most people we regard as truly genius would be branded “mentally ill” and that had they accepted that versus just accepting they were “different” they would have been limited severely on their ability to develop their “illness” into something truly positive that added to the advancement of the society you live in today. Just a thought.

By: Kent

Kent — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 02:22:47 +0000

This is a good article – it’s encouraging to see you refuting the “chemical imbalance” theory and using the word “disorder” rather than “disease”. This type of language is more realistic because what is being diagnosed, after all, is behavior and mental distress as described by the patient, not any kind of observable organic problem. I think that acknowledging these limitations on what is known tends to encourage the inclusion of mentally distressed people in the larger society, rather than excluding them as some kind of fundamentally different “other”.

Most people with psychiatric diagnoses aren’t all that different from everyone else, and taking the time and trouble to understand them as individuals is more likely to help them than the kind of mass processing that usually passes for mental health treatment. The concept of a mind being “sick” makes about as much sense to me as saying that a soul is “sick”. Both may be useful metaphors, but it’s important to remember that they aren’t referring to actual physical realities.

By: John M. Grohol, Psy.D.

John M. Grohol, Psy.D. — Sun, 13 Jan 2008 18:54:59 +0000

The word “simple” was left out of the final copy of this entry, which was in an earlier draft. It has been put back in.

The key take-away is this — mental disorders are complex phenomenon that we don’t really understand all that well. Education should be honest about our limited knowledge about causations, in contrast to our extensive knowledge about treatments.

By: Adam

Adam — Sun, 13 Jan 2008 18:32:35 +0000

How can you say:
“Mental disorders like depression, bipolar disorder and schizophrenia are not “brain diseases,” nor are they caused by a chemical imbalance in the brain. It’s time to put those myths to rest once and for all.” when in your website you say that “…schizophrenia is better understood as a brain disease that requires ongoing treatment. Demystification of the illness, along with recent insights from basic neuroscience, gives new hope for finding more effective treatments for an illness that previously carried a grave prognosis.”?

By: MonochromaticKnight

MonochromaticKnight — Sun, 13 Jan 2008 11:28:08 +0000

I agree wholeheartedly with what you’re saying here. You’ve hit the nail on the proverbial head. However, I’m slightly taken off guard by the following statement:

“Mental disorders like depression, bipolar disorder and schizophrenia are not “brain diseases,” nor are they caused by a chemical imbalance in the brain. It’s time to put those myths to rest once and for all.”

I’m really interested in reading some more literature that supports this claim. Do you think you could provide a link to either external sources or other posts on this site? Thanks!

By: Intersections, what intersections? « Writhe Safely

Intersections, what intersections? « Writhe Safely — Sat, 12 Jan 2008 22:51:26 +0000

[...] January 12, 2008 by flawedplan At Psych Central Dr. Grohol makes a much needed point about the very fucking idea of relationship. He begins with the Lancet Journal study that shows the use of anti-psychotics as a useless option for subduing aggressive behaviors: Medicating People Because It’s Easier Than Talking To Them. [...]

By: I am not a mechanism… « Thoughts on Therapy, Relationships, and Personal Growth

Sat, 12 Jan 2008 18:54:22 +0000

[...] in along these lines. No Comments so far Leave a comment RSS feed for comments on this post. TrackBack URI Leave a comment Line and paragraph breaks automatic, e-mail address never displayed, HTMLallowed:

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By: Living with Bipolar Living with Bipolar — Sat, 12 Jan 2008 01:22:08 +0000 I agree with this to many times people are pushed aside as though we were some type of life stock. Instead of looking at people as individuals and that is where the medication just gets handed out. I suffer from manic depression and I also have a lot of back problems and I used to think that it was just stories I was being told when others would complain about their doctors but it is true I rarely get heard just it needs more time to take effect or lets up the dose or give you more or try another never once lets talk and figure it out I am sure they do not have all the answers but it is their job I thought to provide care for their patients not just what is easiest. I know I have a long road ahead of me and getting better but I know that I can do it and I have insightpros.com to help me along with family and friends! By: Michele Michele — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 19:17:48 +0000 This is so true! The promises made have not been kept, and I suspect it is due to the stigma still ignorantly attached to mental illness. So few people seem to understand that there is no difference between having depression, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, or any other “mental illness” and having the flu or diabetes or any other “physical” illness. I mean, where is the brain housed? I know MINE is housed in my body; there are a few out there, though, that have me wondering about THEIRS. Once society accepts that illness is illness, regardless of if it’s the pancreas or brain, then maybe we will begin to see some inprovement in psychiatric care. Until then, psychiatry will remain the unwanted, ignored child of the family of medicine. By: Make Money Repository » Blog Archive » Medicating People Because It’s Easier than Talking to Them Fri, 11 Jan 2008 16:14:40 +0000 [...] online tips tutorials January 11th, 2008 World of Psychology wrote an interesting post today on Medicating People Because It’s Easier than Talking to ThemHere’s a quick excerptAs we reported last week , antipsychotics are not really a goodtreatment option for aggressive behavior, based upon the findings from a recently published study in the journal Lancet . [...] By: Mental Health » Medicating People Because It’s Easier than Talking to Them Fri, 11 Jan 2008 15:06:25 +0000 [...] Here’s another interesting post I read today by World of Psychology [...]
By: Mental Health » Medicating People Because It’s Easier than Talking to Them

Mental Health » Medicating People Because It’s Easier than Talking to Them — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 15:05:03 +0000

[...] Here’s another interesting post I read today by talkback@psychcentral.com (Dr. John M. Grohol) [...]