Are your antidepressants working FOR you, or AGAINST you?
From my article with the same title, written a few decades ago.
Once upon a time, psychiatrists actually tried to help people. They listened to them, were responsive to their inner pain, and asked the kinds of questions that helped their clients adjust their sense of reality. I was one of the lucky ones to have found such a doctor when I was 20, and suicidally depressed. This man knew how to expertly balance my brain chemistry, so that I could make use of and integrate the talk therapy he provided.
I recovered in about 10.5 months. I rebalanced and no longer needed the meds. He released me from treatment, and I continued (with fierce determination) to heal and grow emotionally. I dedicated my first published book to Dr. Elliot Luby (DO YOU LOVE TO BE NEEDED, OR NEED TO BE LOVED?), whom I credit with having helped me save my life, back then.
Today’s psychiatrists are merely pill pushers. They briefly “evaluate” you for an outrageous fee, send you out with an Rx to present to a pharmacist, and tell ya to come back for a checkup “in a month.” They don’t take a family history, don’t care to explore why you’ve landed in their office, and far too many are unfamiliar with how the drugs they prescribe actually impact your psyche and body. In short, they are totally incompetent~ and these are MEDICAL (MD) doctors! They had to go all through med school before selecting a psychiatric rotation and specialization.
As an MFT intern, I became painfully aware of how little actual knowledge of psychopharmaceuticals many psychiatrists had, when I consulted with them on behalf of my clients’ symptoms and needs. It was literally shocking to me one day, when a psychiatrist stated he “only prescribed Depakote” for Bipolar Disorder. For him, Bipolar Disorder was apparently a one-size-fits-all issue, when it came to drugs used to treat a very serious and potentially life-threatening mood disorder. Numerous Bipolar 2 patients commit suicide during a ‘down-cycle,’ because they see no other way out of their pain. I’ve always suspected this was the case, for actor and comedian, Robin Williams.
Depakote is close to Lithium on the contraindication table of drug risks to patients struggling with a Bipolar mood disorder. As with Lithium, one must get routine blood tests to ensure against liver impairment during the early stages of pharmacological treatment! When I asked this doctor if he’d be willing to give my client an Rx for Neurontin (a far less dangerous mood-stabilizer) instead of Depakote, he had never heard of it. He looked up this drug in his PDR (Physician’s Drug Reference) and over-prescribed it for my client, by starting her on 300 mg’s. It shocked her system, but (thankfully) pulled her out of an acutely depressed state.
In my view, it’s criminal what goes on in this field of “medicine,” and not just within the psychiatric realm. Rather than changing a drug for a client due to adverse side effects, these “doctors” prescribe another drug to manage the side effects of the first one! If their patient has another set of side effects from that second drug, yet another drug is prescribed to handle those symptoms… and on and on it goes, until the poor patient is taking 7 - 8 drugs~ and he’s so doped up, he can barely function. This happened to an old friend of mine I hadn’t been in touch with for many years.
Tragically, many people think of medical doctors as GODS. I can tell you first hand, that a great number of them should never have been licensed to practice medicine! Most don’t even provide you with guidance as to when to take your drugs, to bring about the most efficacious outcome! Having learned (on the job) about the profound and sickening educational deficits that are far too common among prescribing psychiatrists many years ago, I felt compelled to write this article: Are your Antidepressants working FOR you, or AGAINST you?
In the interest of giving credit where it’s due, this ‘note’ I landed on today, inspired my newsletter: