Healing a Troubled Mind Takes More Than a Pill

From The Washington Post (2/10):

 

Healing a Troubled Mind Takes More Than a Pill

By Charles Barber

Feeling depressed? No problem, pop a pill.

That's what more and more Americans are doing these days to quell what ails their troubled souls. The use of antidepressants in the United States has exploded in the past couple of decades, and drugs such as Prozac, Paxil and Zoloft, which didn't even exist 20 years ago, are household names, almost household staples.

And why not? The television ads make it seem so easy: An agonized man or woman stares listlessly into space or slumps on a bed or couch, holding their head in their hands. Then they take a pill and suddenly morph into a happily engaged and joyous being, back on the job or walking in a park, awash in sunshine, surrounded by grandchildren, a golden retriever nipping at their heels, while lush music plays in the background.

But recovering from mental illness is rarely that simple. I know...

...Read more.

Comments

[Glenn Ford]

It is however incumbent upon all of us to understand that the brain may not, or does not, produce the proper chemicals to deal with a variety of issues due to a variety of causation's.

I personally went for years with out medication; using positive affirmations, psycho therapy and trying to go back to becoming a productive member of society. It did not work. I would awake in the middle of the night screaming, fighting (what? why?); I would be in the midst of having a happy event and literally crumble into a pile of mush; I would be driving down the street with good thoughts and goals, come to a stop light and not know where I was going or what I should do next... this story could go on.

This experience is not just my own, but of 10's of thousands of people that I have heard of, read about and personally know. Physical (brain injury in all forms) and psychological trauma is real.

My take on the medical & psychiatric - psychology profesions over medication issues comes from a completely different perspective.

Psychiatrists and the general Medical field "just don't get it". Depression and other mental diseases are immediately diagnosed as a "mental illness" without further review of underlying issues.

In my case I advocate for People living with Brain Injury. Not once will you hear that many of these diagnosis could have the root causation of a physical trauma (and only now are we hearing about a co-occurring PTSD)and/or could 'be there also' as a psychological trauma.

The short of it is that the new medication do treat these symptoms with relatively good results as they supplant or substitute chemicals that are not being produced naturally within the brain after trauma. It is sometimes a "cocktail" that works the best.

The overall problem: the medical and psychiatric field does not have an understanding of brain injury and could not distinguish it from a headache. The science, technologies and therapies have been around for well over 30 years... but the overall community keeps denying that this is the largest cause of disability (and yes, cognitive - mental) in the US.

Yes; understanding, supports, therapies and programs to assist the experiencing individual are crucial in sustaining a viable life! But to tell someone to pull themselves up by their bootstraps is not the answer.

Glenn

Advocate for People and Families Living with Brain Injury

Note: Brain Injury is not just "traumatic" but defined by a number of causations CDC