Posted by SLS on September 6, 2009, at 11:35:47
In reply to Re: Suggestions re: Someone Who Refuses Medications, posted by 49er on September 6, 2009, at 8:18:42
> Scott,
>
> We need to stop making this an either or situation.You are entitled to characterize my approach to the this issue any way you like. I don't agree with you that I am somehow trapped in all-or-nothing thinking.
> If someone with schizophrenia prefers meds, that choice should be respected.
> If they don't want meds, that should be respected also.
I never said anything about not respecting the feelings of another human being. It is a difficult line to walk, though, when someone's judgment is affected by an illness of the brain and an alteration of the mind. None of the people I have mentioned is being forced to take medication. That is not to say that it didn't take some coaxing to have them reach a decision that allowed people to treat them.
You just don't ask someone in an altered state a question once and accept the answer you get as an irrevocable decision - at least, not if you really care about their welfare.
People drop in and out of treatment of their own accord. They leave when they feel well enough, often against medical advice. They return after they stop taking their medication and end up homeless.
A very intelligent man who had been in medical school when his schizophrenia hit was not clever enough to adhere to treatment on a daily basis. He came in voluntarily once a month for a Prolixen injection, because he knew during these treatment periods that he could function and maintain an apartment. He would disappear for a few months and wind up in the streets talking nonsense. For the life of me, I don't know what brought him back for treatment periodically. I guess it was a moment of lucidity. Maybe it was the persuasiveness of his case worker. This man's decisions were respected in that no one would force medication down his throat or a needle into his arm.
By the way, these stories come from an adult partial hospitalization program. No one is forced to go. However, if they do not accept treatment, they are often referred to other agencies as they do not benefit from the program.
Do you accept every decision a young child makes? Why not? You can continue to respect the feelings of another while not agreeing with their decisions.
The people on the mailing list you offer are lucid and not terribly ill. I find it irrelevant when dealing with people as seriously ill as are present in the program I attended.
- Scott
poster:SLS
thread:915268
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20090902/msgs/915890.html