Posted by Lorraine on June 23, 2001, at 11:51:12
In reply to Re: anti-drug comments, posted by Jane D on June 20, 2001, at 16:50:10
> > > > > > I do like a diversity of viewpoints. Maybe if it includes anti-drug ones, it helps people who are still kind of "on the fence" to think it through?
>
> I think it does exactly that. I walk away from this board more reassured about my decisions because not everyone agrees. For one thing the majority are clearly on the side of drug use. Negative posts are outnumbered by positive ones. Some of the reasoning I will probably appropriate when I next need to argue the issue.
Jane: We are clearly coming from different points of view here and maybe it has to do with what is going on in our personal lives (or going on in mine, but not going on in yours?) I feel as though I have lost so much from this disease--including closeness with family members who believe that this is all about who can "sad-sack" the loudest. I was very close to a sister-in-law who does not believe that depression is a physical illness. As I struggle with this disease, she would like for me to "snap out of it"--after all, her life has been tough, but she's not whining. I can no longer be close to her because this just hurts too much. It's the same story with the rest of my in-laws and my brother as well. They have settled into a frame of reference that this disease does not exist; that people who take meds are making "cosmetic" adjustments to their moods etc. No amount of science info provided changes their view on this. The earth remains flat. Their views reflect, I believe, a cultural bias against recognizing depression as a real illness. It's a bias that is every bit as discounting and demoralizing as racism in my view.Discovery magazine this week published an article about how anti-depressants alter the brain. The thrust of the book was that people who take them are looking for a little "mood boost"; that they should instead exercise. I know that there are a lot of things that impact depression and exercise is one of them, but I also know that no amount of exercise, meditation, positive thinking, talk therapy is going to cure or alleviate my depression significantly. To the extent that they help, I try them. I read the article and am so pissed because I know my sister-in-law will read this article and decide that I am using drugs to "cosmetically" alter my mood.
When I come here, the last thing I need is more drug bashing. It is one thing to talk about alternatives, it is another to imply that drugs are unnecessary for major depression and that people who use them are weak and suffer a weakness of the will. It is one thing to talk about different lifestyles--homosexual, heterosexual--it is another to imply that homosexuals should "adjust", or that they suffer a weakness of the will. This is why I regard some of the anti-drug postings as slurs against the mentally ill. It's not that we shouldn't consider non-drug approaches. (I use a lightbox, take fish oil supplements, meditate, exercise AND take meds). It's that we should not "bash" people that take drugs for a physical illness.
Just my 2 cents.
poster:Lorraine
thread:1192
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/admin/20010315/msgs/1485.html