Posted by JenStar on August 26, 2004, at 11:37:14
In reply to Re: about the chemical imbalance concept, posted by RH on August 24, 2004, at 18:44:44
RH,
I myself wonder sometimes about the vast number of prescriptions being written for things like SSRI's. Personally, I believe I benefited greatly from the use of my SSRI, and that without it I would not have been able to 'fix' myself. But in general I wonder if we ARE overprescribing drugs (esp. to children).The things I wonder are:
1. Is there more mental illness today than 100 years ago, or are we better at diagnosing it?2. Are we exacerbating tendencies toward mental illness (driving them into full-blown issues) because of the stressful world we create?
3. Do we "need" drugs like SSRI's because our manufactured life is just too hard for the human being to handle -- too much job stress, money stress, basic survival stress? Is our society a step ahead of our brain chemistry?
3. Over time, is the use of SSRI's going to diminish or increase? It's possible (in pseudo scientific terms) that a natural damping mechanisn will take place: First, we had no SSRI's; they came onto the market and there is HUGE use, then use will fluctuate down and up until it 'damps down' to a baseline.
4. Or...is it possible...that in the future we'll ALL be taking SSRI's, just like we take vitamins now, to balance out our systems & achieve optimal mental balance?
Just a few thoughts. In the meantime, though...I still like my SSRI. I'm glad it's here!
JenSTar
poster:JenStar
thread:381877
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/social/20040820/msgs/382545.html