My Position on Medication
You have been lied to by the pharmaceutical industry and by the American Psychiatric Association and your personal physician has been misinformed by the pill pushing pharmaceutical companies.
The ‘chemical imbalance’ explanation of depression is a lie! There is no such condition that causes depression.
Only in recent years has the American Psychiatric Association acknowledged that there is no such process causing depression; they now say this was just a metaphor.
Like so many other corrupt American corporations, the pharmaceutical industry has not acknowledged that the ‘chemical imbalance’ idea was a creation of their own marketing departments and not the results of scientific research. Both the pharmaceutical cartels and the psychiatric industry have finally acknowledged that the serotonin connection to depression is SPECULATIVE at best – that the entire framework for the use of these SSRI drugs is a shot in the dark. Big Pharma accomplished what they wanted: this propaganda has become a part of our group-think. Many physicians still BELIEVE the imbalance theory is the reason for depression and will prescribe accordingly. Even an informed public thinks that imbalance causes depression.
The antidepressant and anti–anxiety medications bring in billions of dollars of profit for Big Pharma as they continue to exploit those suffering with emotional problems. They now have the gall to be advertising the additional use of a second antidepressant when the first one does not work.
I am not totally against the use of some psychotropic medications for serious mental disorders such as schizophrenia and psychotic disorders, bipolar disorders. The point being, there is a place for some of these drugs with some serious mental illnesses. These drugs do not cure the condition, they simply make the ‘self’ more manageable.
But with problems of depression and anxiety, medication is contraindicated. These drugs do not cure, correct or bring anything into balance.
Anti–anxiety drugs are a central nervous system depressant and are highly addictive. Anti–anxiety drugs definitely effects the body. Xanax – Librium – Klonopin – Valium – Ativan – Serax will turn you into as much mush as you desire. But they are NOT treating a physical condition; they are numbing your body when the ’cause’ is an emotional issue that is left untreated.
No one knows what these antidepressant drugs really do – not the pharmaceutical companies that make them and certainly not the psychiatrists and physicians who prescribe them. Nor do I know. With each prescription comes a pharmaceutical insert stating,“THE EXACT SITE OF ACTION IS UNKNOWN”.
Throughout my career I have seen the effects of these drugs on people and their lives. People using antidepressants present with a flattened affect. They may not feel depressed, but they don’t feel much of anything else either. They are like emotional zombies, unable to experience their internal life on anything but the most superficial level. They are unavailable to do the deep introspective work of psychotherapy.
These drugs do not facilitate the work of therapy, but instead severely limit its potential for resolution because the person is too emotionally stunted. In my work with people, I have never recommended these types of meds because they are unnecessary and hinder the therapeutic work. People who begin therapy with me on these medications will begin the process of weaning off drug(s) on a schedule that works for the individual.
The consequences of taking these drugs continue to come to light; antidepressants cause terrible side effects when trying to stop the drug. Now there are new diagnostic codes for the withdrawal syndrome from these antidepressant drugs, and of course the additional recommended drugs to help tolerate withdrawals.
With the participation of your prescriber, we take our time for you to become drug free because often the withdrawal effects of these drugs are extremely difficult. If the therapist is competent and well trained in intensive psychotherapy, these drugs will never be recommended. These drugs are unnecessary and counter–productive for the resolution of depressive issues.
These drugs are not anti–anything, except for anti–authentic living. They are unnecessary. They are counterproductive to living a rich meaningful life, a life capable of personal responsibility, awareness and contentment.
Supporting Documentation
by Michael Snyder of The American Dream blog,
The American people are the most drugged people in the history of the planet. Illegal drugs get most of the headlines, but the truth is that the number of Americans that are addicted to legal drugs is far greater than the number of Americans that are addicted to illegal drugs. As you will see below, close to 70 percent of all Americans are currently on at least one prescription drug. In addition, there are 60 million Americans that “abuse alcohol” and 22 million Americans that use illegal drugs. What that means is that almost everyone that you meet is going to be on something. That sounds absolutely crazy but it is true.
We are literally being drugged out of our minds. In fact, as you will read about below, there are 70 million Americans that are taking “mind-altering drugs” right now. If it seems like most people cannot think clearly these days, it is because they can’t. We love our legal drugs and it is getting worse with each passing year. And considering the fact that big corporations are making tens of billions of dollars peddling their drugs to the rest of us, don’t expect things to change any time soon. The following are 19 statistics about the drugging of America that are almost too crazy to believe…
#1 An astounding 70 million Americans are taking legal mind-altering drugs right now.
#2 According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, doctors wrote more than 250 million prescriptions for antidepressants during 2010.
#3 According to a study conducted by the Mayo Clinic, nearly 70 percent of all Americans are on at least one prescription drug. An astounding 20 percent of all Americans are on at least fiveprescription drugs.
#4 Americans spent more than 280 billion dollars on prescription drugs during 2013. (link available only to subscribers of TIME magazine)
#5 According to the CDC, approximately 9 out of every 10Americans that are at least 60 years old say that they have taken at least one prescription drug within the last month.
#6 There are 60 million Americans that “abuse alcohol”.
#7 According to the Department of Health and Human Services, 22 million Americans use illegal drugs.
#8 Incredibly, more than 11 percent of all Americans that are 12 years of age or older admit that they have driven home under the influence of alcohol at least once during the past year.
#9 According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there is an unintentional drug overdose death in the United Statesevery 19 minutes.
#10 In the United States today, prescription painkillers kill more Americans than heroin and cocaine combined.
#11 According to the CDC, approximately three quarters of a million people a year are rushed to emergency rooms in the United States because of adverse reactions to pharmaceutical drugs.
#12 According to Alternet, “11 of the 12 new-to-market drugs approved by the Food and Drug Administration were priced above $100,000 per-patient per-year” in 2012.
#13 The percentage of women taking antidepressants in America is higher than in any other country in the world.
#14 Many of these antidepressants contain warnings that “suicidal thoughts” are one of the side effects that should be expected. The suicide rate for Americans between the ages of 35 and 64 rose by close to 30 percent between 1999 and 2010. The number of Americans that are killed by suicide now exceeds the number of Americans that die as a result of car accidents every year.
#15 In 2010, the average teen in the United States was taking 1.2 central nervous system drugs. Those are the kinds of drugs which treat conditions such as ADHD and depression.
#16 Children in the United States are three times more likely to be prescribed antidepressants as children in Europe are.
#17 A shocking Government Accountability Office report discovered that approximately one-third of all foster children in the United States are on at least one psychiatric drug.
#18 A survey conducted for the National Institute on Drug Abuse found that more than 15 percent of all U.S. high school seniors abuse prescription drugs.
#19 It turns out that dealing drugs is extremely profitable. The 11 largest pharmaceutical companies combined to rake inapproximately $85,000,000,000 in profits in 2012.
In America today, doctors are trained that there are just two potential solutions to any problem. Either you prescribe a pill or you cut someone open. Surgery and drugs are pretty much the only alternatives they offer us.
And an endless barrage of television commercials have trained all of us to think that there is a “pill for every problem”.
Are you in pain?
Just take a pill.
Are you feeling blue?
Just take a pill.
Do you need a spark in your marriage?
Just take a pill.
And most Americans assume that all of these pills are perfectly safe.
After all, the government would never approve something that wasn’t safe, right?
Sadly, what most Americans don’t realize is that there is a revolving door between big pharmaceutical corporations and the government agencies that supposedly “regulate” them. Many of those that are now in charge of our “safety” have spent their entire careers peddling legal drugs to all of us.
We have become a nation of drugged out zombies, and it is all perfectly legal. The funny thing is that many of these “legal drugs” have just slightly different formulations from their “illegal” counterparts.
If more Americans understood what they were actually taking, would that cause them to stop?
Perhaps some would, but for the most part Americans are totally in love with their drugs and giving them up would not be easy.
Just ask anyone that has tried.
