Medication is the answer to every problem these days. Feel depressed? There's a pill for that. Anxious? There's a pill. Overweight? Just take these pills. Sleepy, not sleepy, pain, aches, sneezes, sniffles, pee too much, not peeing enough, can't get it up....pop a pill and make everything all right.What really aggravates me is the accepted treatment for any mental health issue by throwing meds at people. Now...I'm not one of those types that believe medications have no place in mental health treatment. I'm just of the opinion that they only treat symptoms. Kind of like taking an aspirin when you have a headache. Gives relief; but if you have pounding headaches every day, maybe you should look a bit closer at finding the cause rather than crunching down bottle after bottle of Excedrin. Same with depression. If you're taking an anti-depressant year after year, are you really getting a handle on dealing with your depression? If you take pain pills long enough, sometimes you may discover that the only pain you are relieving is that of not taking the pills. There is no end to the number of people I know who are suffering all the mental and emotional devastation of a drug addict but who are convinced that they are not addicts because...well...it's prescribed by my doctor for my back pain...it's medicine.
It's okay to feel depressed. It's normal to feel pain. Though there definitely are times when both can become so debilitating that we need some relief to continue functioning...many of us become so dependent upon fiddling with our brain chemistry that we forget how to manage our own feelings. Some no longer even know how they feel.
Sorry for the rant but I had to get this off my chest. Enough preaching. Just remember to keep your head.
3 comments:
I can't tell you how absolutely frustrated I get with the pill situation. What's worse? Even though I see what things really are, or I *know* there are a zillion better ways with dealing with different situations, I am the one who has to administer this medication. When someone asks for a narcotic pain medication and then falls asleep as soon as the pill is swallowed, I really, really, *really* question their level 8 out of 10 pain...but this is a subjective symptom and only the person experiencing it really knows.
It frustrates me, too, daily. Even more so as I get older, learn more about how our systems work, and am exposed more to the devastation of addiction. When that hits close to home, it changes your perspective on a lot of things.
I hear you. We both have the professions we have precisely because we want to ease the suffering of others. How can you tell somebody that what they feel as pain is really just their body wanting the narcotic that they've become addicted to? The doctors don't want to deal with the issue, they just usually throw out a script to get rid of a patient with symptoms they can't do anything about. They don't have to see, or deal, with their daily lives.
Verily, we live in a brave, new world where pain and suffering, the blues and melancholy, are verboten.
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