TO BE, OR NOT TO BE MEDICATED FOR DEPRESSION?
I read an article today by a man called, Allan Leventhal (on Mad in America) who asserted that psycho-pharmaceutical drugs harmed people more than they helped them. Even though he expertly cited sources that confirmed his stance, I could not help thinking he was assessing our mental health pandemic through a very narrow lens, and essentially throwing the baby out with the bathwater. No one “cure” fits all, and nature versus nurture is a vitally important factor in assessing treatment plans for those who suffer.
Having made significant contributions in the arena of helping people identify and understand the etiology and nature of Borderline Personality Disorder (often misdiagnosed as Bipolar Disorder) and helping those who suffer from it (and many who’ve experienced the anguish of having loved a partner with BPD) gain strides with surmounting those nurture challenges, temporary medical intervention as an ADJUNCT to solid, emotional growth-oriented intervention can be extremely useful, if more natural means like, St. John’s Wort and Inositol powder do not prove efficacious.
Analogous to this issue, if someone is in severe chronic physical pain, are they capable of learning or giving their attention to anything else?? Emotional pain has the same distinctly overwhelming effect on us humans. If we cannot raise the floor of a client’s or patient’s depression, can they ‘hold,’ integrate and make use of the therapeutic assistance they are receiving?? Hell no! Balancing brain chemistry is often a necessary evil. Let’s not completely discount it.
The problem millions face isn’t with psychopharmacology in my view, it’s with myriad under-skilled, personality disordered clinicians. Most ‘psychotherapeutic professionals’ are ONLY equipped to lead their clients/patients to insights, but never help them develop emotionally, raise their self-worth and truly heal.
Borderlines see their world and everyone in it as black or white. They either love you or hate you. No grey area exists for these people, and they are incapable of seeing the bigger picture, or being circumspect regarding problem-solving (or anything else, actually). For one to take a hard-line approach to resolving psychiatric disorders, is to me, shortsighted and dangerously naive.
My mother was schizophrenic. She was diagnosed when I was 7 years old, two years after my parents divorced. She was in and out of mental institutions during most of my childhood. She had numerous bouts of electro-convulsive (shock) therapy and was administered antidepressants and antipsychotic drugs, to help her “function” during times she wasn’t hospitalized.
If I had known as a young woman what I know NOW about those drugs, I’d have urged her to take them in the evening, as they made her feel listless and groggy. NOBODY feels good, when they can’t get thru their day without wanting to sleep.
My mom’s struggle combined with years of clinical experience spawned an article I wrote years ago called, ARE YOUR ANTIDEPRESSANTS WORKING FOR YOU, OR AGAINST YOU? I believe it has influenced many doctors in context of being more conservative with respect to initially dosing their patients~ and reassessing, once their level of drug tolerance and efficacy is carefully ascertained. I have for many years believed that in the world of psycho-pharmacology, LESS is more. (This article is available on my website, @ https://ShariSchreiber.com )
I had my own breakdown at 20, mostly due to fallout from an acutely unstable childhood. I was fortunate enough to land in the home office of a wonderful psychiatrist, who balanced my brain chemistry with anti-depressant and anti-psychotic medication, and knew how to ask the right, probing questions that helped me recover.
I was with my doctor for 10.5 months before being released from treatment. I credit him with having saved my life, as I’d come to him suicidally depressed. This is an extraordinarily short period of time, given how very broken I was at that juncture.
I learned a great deal thru that experience, which forged me into the emotionally healthy, contented, self-actualized woman I am today, who is able to identify with and relate to the acute suffering in millions of others who keep searching endlessly for the ‘magic bullet’ they think will bring them happiness~ INCLUDING altering their gender.
I feel sorry for young folks who will never be as fortunate as I was in finding the kind of responsible, expert help I received that launched me into my journey toward genuine healing and inner peace.
In my view, 80% of the world’s population has Borderline Personality Disorder traits. It is directly due to a newborn’s inability to form a safe, secure and loving attachment bond (outside the womb) with an emotionally impaired mother. I dedicated my first book, DO YOU LOVE TO BE NEEDED, OR NEED TO BE LOVED? (the quintessential book on Codependency, and flip-side of BPD) in part to my psychiatrist, Dr. Elliot Luby who’s always insisted I’d have become who I am today, even without his help.
While I can appreciate the kudos, I know beyond a shadow of a doubt, it’s not true. Sometimes, we need a launching pad to help propel us into the lion’s share of our wellness journey~ and with unrelenting, tenacious dedication to growing, remaining well and evolving, we can eventually manage to soar.