Posted by med_empowered on November 28, 2005, at 18:56:05
In reply to Re: SSRIs..thumbs down.., posted by linkadge on November 28, 2005, at 17:38:33
I'm kind of displeased with the state of psychiatry in general. All this emphasis on "symptom control" and altering the neurotransmitter-of-the-month really serves to dehumanize the person (first into a patient, then into walking, talking symptoms) and de-contextualize the problem at hand. Instead of whole people with personalities and whole lives behind and ahead of us, mental patients are reduced to malfunctioning serotonin systems or hyperactive dopamine systems or what have you. This approach is not only not helpful, it is utterly counterproductive and degrading. When you factor in the lack of evidence for most psychiatric theories--I mean, there isn't yet a test to show us depression or anxiety or even schizophrenia--it seems like this is being done more out of disregard for patients and the human experience in general than out of clinical/scientific necessity. I guess before you can subject people to potentially harmful/unpleasant drugs, ECT, and involuntary hospitalization, its necessary to strip them of their humanity and define them as "the other"--the un-well, the irrational, the "crazy"; after all, how else could subject someone to problems such as TD, NMS, apathy, weight gain, drug-induced diabetes, etc. unless you regarded them as somehow "less than human" ?
poster:med_empowered
thread:582599
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20051126/msgs/583113.html