Posted by MisterB on July 11, 2000, at 19:03:25
In reply to Yes It IS Possible » Nise, posted by Oddzilla on July 11, 2000, at 10:03:27
There are apparently two issues in this discussion:
What role did Prozac play in the lives of the people in this example, and
Is Prozac appropriately adminsisters in some, most or all cases?There is apparently a third question though, regarding how much we can or should concern ourselves with either of the other two questions.
Posts in this threat identify other likely causes for the disruption in the man's life.
Posts also suggest evidence, whether 10 percent or 90 percent conclusive, that SSRIs can sometimes compound, complicate or even cause such disruptions.
With these uncertainties in mind, I suggest that at times, people are handed a bottle of pills when what they need is social support.
I am not certain psychological counseling comprises the full range of social support some people might need. Parenting training and appropriate day care might help in some situations, though not neccessarily in this one. Personal mentors or role models have traditionally provided some of this kind of training. Counseling might...and I do mean might... help identify qualified mentors, and short of that, serve as a surrogate for the kind of mentoring and guidence found in strong communities. We have apparently lost the benefit of some of these kinds of social relationships in favor of our highly mobile, modularized society.
SSRI's are often administered by family physicians or by mental health clinics with little oversight or follow-up, and sometimes with no evident recognition of possible side effects that might result either from the drug itself, or from the adminsitration of a drug in lieu of more personal care. This is an apparent shortcoming of the medical establishment. Fortunately, many people who contribute to this site seem to have survived that shortcoming and benefited from the help of ppharmacology.
The third question is probably the hardest to answer.
Am I my brothers keeper (or a babysitter for his neglected children, and a personal counselor when he starts to trash his marriage?)
For certain, in earlier times there were other, likely worse problems. People killed unwanted children, or abused them for years, with the approval of their community. Does that worse condition from a different time and place excuse us from involving ourselves in the lives of those around us? Are we to personally get involved in the private trauma of our peers, family members and neighbors, or is that something we should leave up to health-care and social-service professionals? Do we want to pay for the kind of social support some people apparently need when we are billed for our own health care?
Just something to ponder...
poster:MisterB
thread:39956
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20000708/msgs/40111.html