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This anti psych med bullshit is dangerous. Drugs snapped my brain back to baseline normalcy and away from suicide ideation in a few weeks. I didn't need to take them for long, but it was a switch that needed to be flipped and I couldn't do it by myself.
I thought the message of the comic was that we need to change society to better manage our mental health better not that medication was bad. Like we prop up our society on medication to get people to handle it. But I don't get messages like that clearly so may be wrong.
Yeah I see that, but also maybe it means that the fact you have to be medicated to deal with the system highlights some inherent deficiencies in the system itself?
I don't always convey my thoughts well, sorry, I meant that too with thinking we should improve society, so we can have better mental wellbeing without pharmaceuticals.
I wouldn't see it as anti meds but more like our world fucking sucks... Wich is objectively true, especially because depression is at least partially a genetic infection and thats just fucked up.
it's not explicitly anti med. I'm pretty fundamentally anti med for a few reasons. Primarily just the fact that i believe environmental factors are the most prominent influence on day to day life, i think focusing on those to make yourself more productive, and functional is better than being hamstrung to a bunch of drugs, that might probably work, but they might stop working, or you might not be able to get them, or afford them, or they might have really bad side effects, or health insurance is a bitch, etc...
Interestingly, i've seen a lot of rhetoric along these lines (your post included) among people with ADHD, which i understand, but i have to wonder if that's due to dependence on the meds of some form. Which isn't exactly the fault of the individual, when paired with society and it's expectations, it's almost explicitly what you would expect to see, which is a little weird to me. It gives me vibes i dont quite jive with and im not sure how i feel about it.
So, I struggled massively with ADHD symptoms in my teens and 20s. Despite failing out of school, and struggling in all the classic ways, I was never diagnosed.
My folks "didn't want the kids on pills" and so despite needing help I was just called lazy and never received any help.
The best way to mitigate the symptoms is with stimulants. I self prescribed caffeine. If I was in a different environment that could have easily been something illegal.
I was never diagnosed and I wish I was, because if I could have focused on classwork in high school, I could have went to college, and I could have started doing work that interests me at the beginning of my 20s instead of the end of my 20s.
You need to examine your shallow attitude about medication. It's "I don't like it because other stuff is better", and a bunch of anxiety around what if what if what if.
What if you deny your child the one tool that actually allows them to reach their potential? You try these "better" options and waste their youth instead of using methods that are proven to be reliable?
You know it's not too late to still get a diagnosis right? I got mine at 21 or something, but I've seen people in their 40s or 50s get their diagnosis and finally get some relief or explanation for their symptoms.
I don't really need it at this point, it doesn't interfere with my job and I'm having less problems around it.
My life feels like it's getting easier and I feel more organised.
If I was still procrastinating a ton I absolutely would.
Anyone that feels like they are struggling and don't know why or how to make it better should talk to their doctor!
My folks “didn’t want the kids on pills” and so despite needing help I was just called lazy and never received any help.
this is realistically a bigger problem though, your parents just didn't care about your well being very much.
You need to examine your shallow attitude about medication. It’s “I don’t like it because other stuff is better”, and a bunch of anxiety around what if what if what if.
i've examined it plenty enough, it's a personal opinion of mine. I'm not forcing it on others, and im certainly not having kids. You'll notice a lot of problems with them are as you said, what ifs, that's true. But i simply don't trust myself to maintain something like that, or for that matter, trust anybody else to maintain it for me. Doctors can be very helpful, but sometimes they aren't, or maybe they are but insurance just refuses to cover your meds because they decided that you did one too many instances of illicit substances in your past, or who knows what fucking reasons they have.
If i had a hypothetical child, it would be up to them, i unlike other people, give other people free will. If they believe that medication is going to be beneficial for them, who am i to tell them what to do. Ironically, you seem to be arguing that i should be supporting drugs unquestionably, which is objectively bad. However i'm not holding that against you, i'm just making my point here. There are certain problems, which most consider to be outweighed by the positives, i however, disagree.
I do not make the rules, i just exist in proximity to them. As does everyone else.
I’m not forcing it on others, and im certainly not having kids. ...If i had a hypothetical child, it would be up to them
That's awesome.
supporting drugs unquestionably
Nonono, I'm supporting healthcare unquestionably. There's science behind best practices, and when it's drugs or therapy or surgery, best practices should be considered.
I get that science is improved all the time, and things like lobotomies and such are found to be more harmful than good... That harm is the exception, and getting more rare.
Scientists and researchers who make a career of examining these practices should be in charge of creating recommendations for changing these practices. It's too complicated a field of study to leave choices to legislators, parents and other layman.
Nonono, I’m supporting healthcare unquestionably. There’s science behind best practices, and when it’s drugs or therapy or surgery, best practices should be considered.
i suppose so, but even then we still only think that drugs are helpful. Simply because we have no better solution, and i guess from that aspect it's true. But then again we also invented heroin as an alternative to morphine. Whoops.
There is certainly a place for drug advocation, but if you are supporting healthcare (or more accurately, medical science) as you say, there is also a place for discussing the potential downsides and negatives to them, without bias. Because otherwise, you cannot have a scientific environment. And you risk doing more damage to people than necessary, or worse slowing down the time of progress. Which is objectively bad.
I mean for example, it's well established practice and knowledge that not everybody reacts to the same drugs the same way. It's on an individual level basis. For some individuals, it would follow that the recommendation might be none.
No way, for other disorders therapy is very effective and non invasive.
Discussion is fine, but real prioritization needs to be done by impartial researchers that are considering harm reduction vs effectiveness.
The people that do not respond well to a treatment need to be classified vs people that respond very well.
i mean yeah, therapy is very functional. There are quite a few disorders that can both be treated with meds and therapy, anxiety is a good example.
I'm really just waiting for the medical field to stop classifying everything under a set of rules, because it's less than ideal and causes problems.
I know this is "just a joke" but I still think it's harmful. Depression may be brought on by being in a bad situation but it isn't simply unhappiness or dissatisfaction with being in that situation. Antidepressants don't make a person artificially happy or numb. If you are clinically depressed because your life sucks, antidepressants may give you the mental fortitude needed to change your circumstances. There are drugs that people do use to try to cope which just make things worse, but you won't get then from a psychiatrist. (You can get the most popular one at the grocery store.)
It's not cool to stigmatize mental illness.
It’s not cool to stigmatize mental illness.
This is not at all what my take away from that comic is. I guess it is somewhat open to interpretation, but I think it rather asks what the underlying societal dynamics are that cause people to develop depressions in the first place.
The meme doesn't stigmatize mental illness because it's not talking about mental illness.
If anything, pathologizing the predictable and inescapable results of living under oppressive systems designed to keep you as down and alienated as possible as a mental illness, instead of a perfectly valid reaction to living in dystopia deeply and negatively impacts how we treat actual mental illness.
The idea that pointing out that we have societal problems pills can't solve is somehow stigmatising actual mental illness (which pills can help) just goes to show how deeply indoctrinated society is in to toxic individualism.
I concur
This was also my takeaway. The comic isn't making a value determination for medication in any form, but instead commenting that we as a society would rather address symptoms rather than address any root causes.
Thank you for saying something. The saying "suffering isn't noble, just take the damn pills" has been floating around lately, and I think it's been changing my mind. I should probably be on something.
I worked at a Psych hospital for a while, it's pretty well accepted that most people could benefit from something sometimes, even if it's just a Valium or a pot brownie.
Can confirm, took a lot of antidepressants, didn't make me artificially happy nor numb.
Agreed. I take them and they have been life changing. They give me the help i need to get out of the dark place I'm in and forge ahead. They have been life changing. Them, therapy, and regular exercise have been amazing for me.
"YoU kNoW tHoSe PiLlS aRe BaD fOr YoU!"
Cool. Next best option is me being unable to function and longing for death while my brain craves any type of happiness, forcing me to engage in potentially harmful and unhealthy habits to get any hit of happy chemicals that my brain struggles to make naturally.
I'll keep taking the pills, thanks.
But the pills are bad for you!
Well, maybe not you specifically, but they are not to be taken willy-nilly. They often have quite severe side effects, withdrawal syndromes, and, in some cases, long lasting or even permanent damage. Second opinion is not optional, given how trigger happy some of the doctors are to just send you home with a prescription for the hardest hitting shit they have available. Take that from someone who had multiple first-hand experiences of all of the above.
I'd say, IF there is an option to alleviate symptoms and find a place in society without meds, it's definitely a much better option. If not, well, sure, go for it, no third option here. The hardest part is actually figuring out on which side of it you are.
I choose you Cannabis!
Cannabis uses THC, it was super effective.
Hurray! Their humon is weak to thc due to genetics and is now permanently confused!
What I really need is a prescription for $$$$$, but it's a controlled substance and I don't meet the pre-existing conditions to be prescribed.
'Would you rather be happy or right (mutually exclusive)?"
Right. Just because if you only accept things the way they are then you can't improve them, or attempt to anyway.
Well being right makes me happy, but being wrong also does, because I get to be right next time.
Better than nothing, I guess.
But why is this not in the Pawnstars meme-format . . . 😞
Yeah I get it. I just meant that it also hits on another level for me.
what if, we entertained the idea. Somebody should make something, like a tank, but on a bulldozer platform, and then do something amusing with it. That might interesting, i think.
I was here at a point. I still struggle but acceptance of Christ has been an indescribably edifying and healing force. There is a way other than prideful hedonism, cynicism and nihilism. Virtue and beauty can scarcely be found in the modern world but both of these things can be found in abundance in Christ. Make no mistake -- I and every Christian you've ever met fails to live up to the standard set before us but similarly to a recovering alcoholic or drug addict the earnest Christian takes it one day at a time with the sincere hope to arc ever closer to Christ. It is a difficult but beautiful struggle.
I'm not superstitious enough to adhere to the esoteric and religions, but for me I delved into the spirituality side of things.
Meditation and Yoga seem to do the trick for me and probably have similar mental benefits. And bonus, I get in better shape by doing such a nice activity.
I think it is called alcohol for most actually.
Buddha figured this out thousands of years ago: desire and suffering are part of the human existence. It has nothing to do with the nature of society, but the nature of being human. This time isn't unique, and there is no form of society that would fix this for you.
The fix comes from within yourself. If, of course, you aren't suffering from some legit chemical imbalance that needs to be corrected by drugs.