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Psychiatrists are Becoming Drug Pushers
Posted by howisbradley • 8/07/08 • Subscribe to this Discussion [RSS] • Report This Topic
How does the mental health care in your country compare to the United States?
What are the solutions to our care in the United States?
www.howisbradley.com/
User Comments
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Meds are only useful when combined with talk therapy, as far as I'm concerned. Cognitive therapy is the best. And meds are over prescribed by GPs ... IMHO. Given as a quick fix without follow-up, which is dngerous. -
Meds are being prescribed for some conditions, such as social anxiety, that they are really not helpful for at all.-
Agreed. My bipolar disorder has been severly reduced by meds, but now I'm being treated for general anxiety which is being done with psychotherapy not meds. Both have helped in different ways.
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Alcohol is the best med for social anxiety. I'm drunk right now and am talking to a young hottie. See! -
You rock! Cheers to that remedy. You could market it as "Psycho's social anxiety elixir" and no one would know it was just booze. It would help a lot more than psych meds.
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becoming????
sorry, that just struck me as funny.
(otherwise, i agree with calais50's comment about meds for some, but not all)-
It's gotten worse. On my blog I recap a study that shows the amount of psychotherapy has gone done from 44% to 29% in just the last few years.
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i blame the insurance companies/pharmaceutical companies trying to train everyone into thinking there's a quick fix for everything when there's not.
i suppose this is why you need to vet your health care professionals as carefully as possible.
bradley - do you have stats comparing the u.s. to the u.k. or canada? i'd be curious to see if that trend holds in places with managed health care. -
Your right. The report goes on to blame the insurance companies as a primary reason. I don't have comparisons of the uk or canada, but I'd be curious as well. I'll have to research and find if the trend is happening all around.
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I agree that pharmaceuticals are being pushed unscrupulously on patients.
But not by all professionals in the psychiatric profession...I had a therapist/psychologist who outlined very clearly his stance on drugs and care.
He felt that medicine had it's proper place, and were quite helpful for some problems, but were not a cure all solution. After speaking to him, and another psychologist who immediately asked why my doctor had not put me on a cocktail of drugs for a disorder they don't know much about - I went with the first guy....
Don't forget though, doctors/physicians are pushing just as hard. One office I had I choose specifically because the doctors in it were adamant about discussing options with the patients, not jumping to medical conclusions, and not pushing drugs.
Fast forward eight years, and instead of listening to the patient's concerns, symptoms and wishes, the doctors there now simply push drug cocktails, after ten minutes of "diagnosis".
What gives? I am no longer their patient! -
I can't complain at all about my doctor.-
I can't either. I adore mine, but I hear a lot of horror stories from friends and support groups I'm in.
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Ugh. This is a sore spot for me. The psychiatrists here spend 15 minutes with a person before diagnosing them and writing a script. I saw one doctor talking to the patient and doodling at the same time -- all the while saying, "Mhm, uh huh, yes, mhm..." That was it. When I voiced concerns that the patient may have something else going on, I was looked at like an interfering nobody who didn't know what they were talking about.-
You hit the nail on the head.
How can any doctor diagnose complicated problems in fifteen minutes or less? (I'm not talking about obvious ailments here, like a broken leg). The patient knows their body, condition, and ailments and symptoms intimately...and to be brushed off by a doctor is ridiculous.
I usually walk out of a doctor's office if they operate like that
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This is why people are bent up on Dr Phil. His philosophy is that he gets you on national tv, demeans you, then tells you the oh-so-simple steps to change your life. All within an hour.
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I dunno, I've watched Dr Phil, and he rarely tackles serious disorders or problems. He focuses on counseling - which is to say he becomes a mediator and a third party looking in, telling the patient the obvious thing they've missed.
When he does tackle big issues (I watched one on eating disorders) - he does support his show with other experts, and he seems to spend more time watching one person or interacting with them than your average physician/psychologist, actually video taping their behavior over a period of time, and examining it. -
Well, I tried to leave this comment before but blogger died there for a minute.
Anyway ... Dr Phil...he's the most arrogant, how's that working for ya, pompus guy on tv. Not enough words in the English language to express how much I dislike him. He does a real disservice to therapists everywhere IMO. -
Ugh -- reminds me of Dr Laura-I hated that woman. She was flat-out nasty and everything to her was black and white. You'd think she never had a problem in her life that caused her angst. Bleh.
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I really have the hots for Ricky Lake. I know she's not a doctor, but my god is she sexy. And Rachael Ray just needs to visit me and never leave
Anyway, you're right. Dr Phil is extremely arrogant and has proven himself to be unethical and only cares about money. -
I can't add anything to the statements about dr. phil except that I agree with them all. The man should be ashamed of himself. I was hoping he'd be off the air after that britney spears debacle.
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I'm strongly of the opinion that taking antidepressants without some other form of therapy (though not necessarily formal psychotherapy) is like turning up the radio so you can't hear the noise your engine's making. Doing what I hate (again) I'll mention that I wrote a blog post a little while ago (partly) about the way kids with ADD are being drugged at such alarming rates, and my own experiences:
yogaforcynics.blogspot.com/2008/06/my-mind-on-drugs.html-
I agree and disagree. When I first went in for my most recent bout after having gone off meds, I was given prescriptions only and no therapy, and that was a good thing. Why? I was so out of it that therapy would have been pointless. I couldn't piece two sentences together, or hear more than three. Currently I have started therapy and I'm glad we followed the plan we did.
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Well, I guess maybe it's like when someone's extremely overweight--at first you need crash diets and other drastic measures. Then, once the situation's at a manageable level, you work on creating a sustainable, healthy lifestyle.
I can say, though, that the first time I got on antidepressants, I felt great for about a week after they started kicking in, then went through a period when I actually had a cliff picked out (hundreds of feet high, concave, nothing but rocks at the bottom, so that there'd be no chance of ending up alive but brain damaged or quadriplegic). It's a damn good thing I had a therapist I could call. -
Someone with chronic severe depression is not going to change with just a healthy, active lifestyle. It'd be nice if they could shake it off so easily. Believe me, they would.
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Oh, I meant that as part of the comparison to somebody losing an extreme amount of weight--with changes in lifestyle kind of equivalent to working out issues with a therapist. Though, admittedly, the comparison is a bit rocky now that I think about it, anyway....
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Ah, gotcha now. Completely misunderstood. Rereading it, it does make sense.
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They are giving psych drugs to kids as young as two now, here.
I think this is very very risky and troubling. -
well i teach those kids on psychotropic drugs and believe me I want them on the meds, they are impossible to teach with out them -
I enjoyed reading your post thanks for that. I'm a bit short of time at the moment. However if you would like to see the direction mental health services are going in Scotland I would reccomend you have a look at this link www.scottishrecovery.net/content/default.asp
I used to work in the mental health field and I have always strongly believed that support should be person centred i.e. the person should be able to choose what is best for them. Insurance companies, health services and Psychiatrists are providing a service. They should listen to their customers, not dictate to them. -
What would the Shrinks do without Prozac? -
I agree with you Bradley. Also, the psychologists/psychiatrists don't spend enough time with patients to accurately diagnose them. Most people are mis diagnosed and given medications that make their issues much worse; I've known some people that it happened to. =/
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