It's All So Vague
Why are there so many diagnoses for a slew of different mental disorders and so many different opinions on what the diagnosis may be? For instance: a sociopath is a term professionals don’t like to use anymore, because they have broken it down to antisocial or dissocial personality disorder—whichever you choose. For each broken down definition, there are similarities regardless. Years ago, people who were ‘up and down’ with their moods were called, manic-depressives. That term is now obsolete: the term used now is, “bi-polar”. It’s basically the same thing heightened to an extreme. They also have bi-polar 1 and 2, depending on the severity. There are so many “new disorders” and new definitions that it makes me just wonder what it’s really all about. In my opinion, new medications make doctors trigger happy with diagnoses. Doctors get kickbacks and many of them are pill pushers. You’re in their office for less than 15 minutes, and voila---you’re diagnosed with a new disorder and out of his office with a new and improved medication just released by some medical firm.These days, you have to literally look like shit in order to be taken seriously by professionals. I used to go to my doctor after work and they always diagnosed me as “generalized anxiety disorder”. Newsflash: 98% of people have it. It’s another word for stress. I thought mine was a bit different since I would experience a panic attack for no reason at all that I could think of at that moment. Of course, there are always underlying reasons for the attacks, however, while experiencing these scary moments, it’s your body’s way of purging out any negative feelings. Two days after a panic attack, I would experience extreme fatigue and depression. Some would categorize that as manic-depressive. Some would even venture to say because of the “highs and lows” that it’s bi-polar. I was never diagnosed with either, but the definitions of extreme highs and lows make sense to me. But aren’t they talking about extreme happiness? So, for me, it was extreme anxiety and fear for no rational reason whatsoever, and then a low like you couldn’t imagine. My doctors would just write me a prescription for ativan and tell me to just relax. Even if I was suicidal (this is back then), they never took me seriously because I was in a business suit and looked “presentable.” Crazy, huh? (Possibly a bad term to use in this post.)
I just wonder if medications are good for everyone. I know many people have claimed it has helped them a great deal and has even saved their lives, but what about the people who have bad reactions to it or who have been incorrectly diagnosed for the mere pleasure on their doctor's part of pushing a pill to make a buck? Are our lives at risk by seeing a shrink? Do they all see it as a business, or do these people actually want to help us get better? If you’re just having generalized anxiety disorder (stress), then wouldn’t psychotherapy, counseling and relaxation techniques be more beneficial than consuming chemicals? Are doctors getting lazy? I’m very disappointed in the heightened lax that the psychotherapy professionals have come to.
Labels: anxiety disorder, bi-polar, depression, medication, panic attacks, psychotherapy
posted by Deb at Monday, June 23, 2008
What has been done with the medical profession is simply abominable.
I believe in alternative medicines, something very few people do in Argentina or elsewhere. More and more people are being disillusioned with the “official” way of healing since the “official” way of curing people doesn’t have answers for so many diseases and, sometimes, they just go after the symptom and not after the real cause. What I mean is that if you have arthritis they give you a pain reliever!!
Alternative medicines will try to remove what’s causing you to have arthritis to begin with. For
instance, they will tell you to start eating a low protein diet in order to let your body remove all those deposits from your joints.
Thirty years ago, my mother was sent home to “die in peace” after being for 30 days (that was not a misprint) in coronary intensive care unit and 60 extra days in a general room and after “doctors” had taken up to the last drop of money from my father, since he even had to sell the wedding rings in order to keep up with the bills. After my mother come back home to “die” a naturalist took care of her, charging peanuts for his services. Among many other changes, my mother became a vegetarian... and the rest is history.
To make the story short: thirty years after being sent home and after all kind of medical examinations and treatments that were performed on her had lead doctors to find out that there was “nothing else to be done”, she is still alive!!!!!!!! Just a few herbs, to become a vegetarian and a drastic change in her food intake and in her way of life were enough!! The guy who took care of my mother is not even a doctor, he is just an “alternative medicine practitioner” and I am absolutely convinced that in a country such as the USA, he would have been sent to jail since long ago charged with “illegal practice of medicine”!!!!!
Of course my mother still has complications from time to time. But that is very faaaaaaar from being
dead!!!!!
If most people in the world would ever have the chance to enter into a doctor’s lounge at any given hospital I can guarantee you that none of them would ever return to see a doctor unless strictly necessary. I had the chance to work as a nurse aid for more than two years in a hospital. The kind of conversations between “doctors” I had the chance to listen are just not to be believed. I’m talking about something such as:
-“Hey Joe, this patient doesn’t really need this study, why are you doing it?”
-“Well, she has Blue Cross Blue Shield and they pay well, so, why no?!”
My two cousins are doctors themselves and they both live in your country. They told me about certain situations in which patients were sent to an operating room with no need!!!
My older niece is a shrink and she has seen cases of ridiculous diagnoses that were made in order to make the patient (or “potential customer”) to start a looooong treatment because all of a sudden they have discovered that a person that was apparently normal has all of a sudden developed severe “schizophrenia” or became a “paranoid”!!
I am sure that if some physician is reading these lines he/she will immediately jump saying that not all doctors are the same. The medical profession sucks, here (in Argentina), in the USA, in Zimbabwe and in Laos; it’s all the same everywhere.
I’m telling you one more time: this comment is coming from someone who has plenty of physicians in his family and who worked for more than two years in a hospital.
You may mention thousands of cases in which patients who could have died were saved, about broken bones that were healed, etc. Of course that’ll be correct!! I’m just saying that the medical profession has prostituted itself by doing things just for money. We are nothing but customers for them, not patients.
In the very same way I try to sell a paint brush and a can of paint to the customers that get into my store, doctors try to find a disease in order to keep you coming back again, and again, and again. Not to mention the kind of commissions they receive from pharmaceutical companies when prescribing their medication, something that is completely unethical under my point of view.
It’s all about money after all…
(Sorry for such a looooong comment but I couldn’t restrain myself. Feel free to delete it after reading it if it was too long).
Gustavo: I will NOT delete your comment, as it pertains to this post and is very relevant to what I am trying to speak of. Most of all, through your experience and knowledge in this area, you've seen it all really. I'm not surprised. I'm not saying that medication and seeing a doctor doesn't work, but I have also seen people (friends and loved ones) get put on an operating table for reasons that were really unnecessary. I do believe that most of it is a business.
Thank you for sharing that.
I think Gustavo's post is indeed a good one. Doctors have and DO abuse their patients.
Deb, I don't know what to tell you to do, other than pray and follow your gut instinct. That's what I end up doing most of the time!
HUGZ!
deb ~ you know I am so thankful for meds. I wish my mom could have been on antidepressants when she had my sister and I growing up. They weren't available then like now and I honestly believe our entire lives, all of ours, would have been so different had they been.
But, you also know, when I lost my ins and couldn't afford the lexapro anymore, I studied like mad and found what worked for me through vitamins and supplements, weaned myself off the antidepressants over a couple of months and it's been 9 or 10 months since I've been off all prescriptions all together. Plus, I think it's much healthier for me...and the cost, geeze, what a difference.
I love Dr's, (I work for 5 of the greatest dr's, seriously. 5 guy ob-gyns) and I do hear horror stories from patients that are transferring to us. Me, I'm so thankful that I'm not on the prescription stuff anymore. I feel...better, and I'm sure it's much healthier for me. BUT, I am so thankful that I had the prescriptions when I needed them. I'm thankful for me, and my family, because I saw first hand what someone with mental problems who needs them and doesn't have them goes through.
Wait, this was probably way off topic, huh? Mostly about therapists...yeah, I never had good luck with them. Only saw two, and they both made me feel extremely uncomfortable. One was too close to me, and tried 'touch therapy', the second one was way too impersonal, I felt like I was a burden.
So...not much into them.
Love you though, lol!!
Debs,
When I was in my late twenties I was placed in charge of 100 employees, given management of major architectural projects, had a new adopted baby and a wife fighting ovarian cancer. It was tough and I began to have anxiety attacks at one point. Being a tough in charge guy I had to mask it. The docs gave me those pills that make your entire brain feel like a cotton ball. No good.
Then I read some advice that helped me beat it for good. I know you know about this, but what I learned was to tell it NO! As soon as I would feel those weird vibes coming I would just literally tell it no that I didn't have time to fool with it. It works. It's been gone for 28 years. It doesn't even bother to come around.
I know it sounds too simple; but the most powerful drug we can find lives between our ears.
Dabich: Well that’s one of my strongholds is praying. I just wish that there were more doctors who did more counseling and relaxation techniques for those suffering with anxiety disorder, instead of chucking them a bottle of pills meant for another disorder. Thanks for your input!
Kath: I totally understand that there are people who need them and there are people getting the appropriate help----which is a blessing and it’s very rare. I’m not downplaying the use of medication or questioning if it works: I’m just curious to see how many doctors are diagnosing people incorrectly and handing out pills for kickbacks. That’s a scary thought, isn’t it?
Seven: I’ll never forget, this one therapist I used to see gave me relaxation techniques and ways to cope with anxiety. The first rule is: when you have the anxiety attack and feel it coming on------go with it. It’s like going against a riptide. It’ll just bring you in further if you fight it.
1.Feel it.
2.Acknowledge that you’re having an anxiety attack.
3.Tell yourself that you cannot die from an anxiety attack and that’ll it’ll be only moments till it’s gone.
That’s just what I learned which goes against what has helped you. See, different advice for different people. It’s so “vague”!!!
I'm so glad you're feeling better!
Is that Seven I see? My Texas friend, I need to get myself hence to your page! I miss you!
I'm just going to limit this to psychotropics, as I do agree with Gustavo--alternative medicine is often a better choice. With psychotropics, I really think it depends on the person. Yes, doctors get kickbacks, but there are ethical doctors. My sister is one, not a shrink, but an internist. She would never prescribe anything without consulting her conscience. So I've seen the other side.
If you are talking about general neurotic behavior that a good many of us have, then probably psychotropics are overprescribed, but I see nothing wrong with prescribing one for depression if a person is in danger of hurting himself. A lot of people simply wont take them. But when you get into areas like Bipolar 1, schizoaffective disorder, (note I don't say bipolar 2 as I don't even know what the hell that is, but possibly a fake diagnosis to get more drug prescriptions) you are dealing with serious issues. My girlfriend is Bipolar 1 and I've seen her manias--she needs those meds, trust me. I knew a guy with schizoaffective disorder and he was two people: the one on medication and the one who wasn't. And the problem with disorders like these is that the patients hate their meds and don't want to take them as it ruins their creativity, sex drive, visions, you name it. Then when they get back on, it takes longer for them to work. Have you read Kay Jamison. She is both bipolar 1 and a doctor. She'd be nothing without her meds.
Having said that, I would never let my son take psychotropics unless it was a last case scenario and even then, not until the age of 16 at the youngest. Even if I agreed, his father would not.
In one of my grad school classes in psychopathology we were assigned an article called "Diagnosing for Dollars" that explained the role of third party reimbursement in our current mental health system. Scary stuff!
Then, in a related article that you can get full text of HERE it says: "Unlike medical diagnoses of broken bones, lung infection or cancer, psychiatric diagnoses are not precise, accurate or objective. While different X-Ray machines, blood tests or scanning devices are likely to yield similar results for the same person, different therapists are less likely to come up with the same diagnosis for the same person. Psychiatric diagnosis is not an exact science. The differences reflect different theoretical orientations of therapists. Diagnosis, in psychotherapy, often depends on the eye of the beholder. "
Perhaps my favorite piece on Diagnosis was written by a Portland based Homeopathy guy, Doug Brown: Diagnosis-Medicine's Holy Grail.
I've never understood why people think by virture of NAMING something we suddenly understand it better. My experience has been that is simply not the truth. I suspect that once we wrap labels around something as complex and intangible as human mental/emotional experience we cut ourselves off from perceiving it fully because we shroud ourselves in assumptions about the validity of those words which may or may not truly fit.
Deb: I agree there are alot of doctors out there that prescribe meds, just to get the kick back. I am on meds for depression and will probably always be, but a while back when I told my therapist that I was feeling really bad again, she said instead of feeding you more meds, we have to work the problem out and use therapy to face it. I thought this was great because I really didnt want to be put on more meds. So we are working through therapy, and I know its going to be a long road to recovery...thanks for a great post..Mary
I was diagnosed as mild schizo with depression... I thought it was a bunch of huey and after 2 months of taking the meds I determined to get off of them myself because I thought it was all stress-related.
I was a lucky one is that stress does something to me chemically but I am 90% able to contain it. The other 10% is controllable as long as I talk to my friend about it (she knows the signs).
I hate meds if I can help it, I won't take them!
(1) Perhaps dealing with the source of the stress would be more helpful than any therapy, in many cases.
(2) Jung gave the example of drawing a square, one meter by one meter, on a rocky beach. The observer could then weigh all of the stones in that square meter, divide the sum of those weights by the number of stones, and come up with the mean average. Thus, when describing all of the stones in that square, you might say that they average, say, 2.1539 ounces in weight.
Problem is, the chances of picking any stone at random, and having it weigh 2.1539 ounces, is crushingly small. In fact, there's a really good chance that none of the stones weighs that amount. Yet, this becomes a description of the whole.
Jung used this as a metaphor for psychological diagnoses. The diagnoses aren't actual condition, he believed, but rather paradigms of disorder. Like the stones, people diagnosed with a particular ailment probably will not meet all the criteria of that ailment. It's not a one-size-fits-all kind of thing. Thus we have definitions of various mental illnesses that apply to few if any actual suffers--at least completely.
So, if one size doesn't fit all the diagnoses, one would have to question if one remedy could apply to everyone equally (if, at all).
Meanwhile, we have a rather powerful pharmaceutical industry that's in the business of making pills. In sales school they tell us to find your customer's need and fill it with your product. If the customer has no need, create one, and then fill it with your product.
In about twenty years we'll all probably all be diagnosed with some sort of mental disorder, if things continue as they are. It would be a shame if local, state or federal laws require us to take medicines for it, say as an expansion and univeral adoption of Kendra's Law.
Then again, maybe I'm just (ahem!) paranoid.
Interesting post.
Enemy: It’s so hard to trust doctors these days --- but yes, I do agree that there are extreme cases and legit cases where the person is definitely in need of certain medications. Funny you should mention the lack of sex drive, because (not through experience) however, through sources, I have heard that groups that attend sex anonymous groups have been known to take these medications to decrease their levels of sexual urges. So, even people who are using them for other purposes than to get better mentally -----is this still good or “okay”? I know that there are doctors out there that are truly concerned and only prescribe when they really feel it’s necessary. I have not found one yet. I remember sitting in an old doctor’s office – she was a psychiatrist and we did relaxation techniques as well as CBT (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy), yet she tried pushing Prozac on me. Looking around her office, there were tissue boxes, coffee mugs and a bunch of pens that had the “Prozac” label on them. So I just wonder…you know?
Belladonna: Interesting and possibly contradicting articles. See, that’s where I get confused. Then the sentence in one of them stated: ”… Diagnosis, in psychotherapy, often depends on the eye of the beholder.” One person may feel this girl is pretty while the other thinks she’s unsightly. (Just an example of ‘eye of the beholder’ type of theory. I’m totally scared to believe a doctor due to past experience and what other people have gone through. Thanks for the informative comment!
Mary: I think if a doctor is at least willing to work with you on “therapy” or “CBT” – any method aside from medication OR with medication is a great thing. A lot of these doctors also fail to do blood tests- which is so imperative while a person with depression is taking medications due to their liver enzymes. A person can literally die if they touch a drink while being on some of these medications. They need to be monitored and I’m finding that they’re way too lax in the care department. I wish you the best and hope that you feel better! Thanks, Mary!
Dawn: As long as you know what to do when you’re having a depressive episode and if you have a good support system, like your friend being there for you, then great. You know the signs, you know the triggers and most of all, you know when to get help. I wonder what determined their diagnosis of schizophrenia… ? I volunteered at the mental health association a few years back and remember helping people with mild schizophrenia, and thinking: this person wasn’t diagnosed properly. I came across a lot of that.
X-Dell: ”… people diagnosed with a particular ailment probably will not meet all the criteria of that ailment. “
And that’s just it. Another note I wanted to make was that symptoms listed in order to diagnose could vary and be quite similar to this one or that one. This is what scares me the most.
If the “outpatient” is not in danger of harming themselves or others, or has no known cases to determine this, then Kendra’s Law is definitely like a mental health “big brother”. That is quite scary.
I personally watched my grandfather go from a fairly healthy individual to the point where he couldn't even speak, feed himself or eat without a bib. All within a matter of months. He eventually went in the hospital where the resident doctor suggested a novel ideal: take him off all these medications! Within TWO days he was back to his old self! Diagnosis? OVER MEDICATED.
My grandparents are old and trusted their doctor and didn't think to question the medications he was giving them.
After the drastic improvement, they both got off all medications, except blood pressure (grandfather) and heart medication. (my grandmother has heart disease)
My grandfather just got through a major heart surgery of his own and is up and about and doing everything he was doing before being so overly medicated.
I believe a certain amount of medication is necessary, I have had knee problems since I was 15 years old (dislocations) and have since had 3 surgeries. I am VERY thankful for the pain medication taht I was given...I couldn't have imagined going through that without it! Surgery number 4 will be coming this year - all have been very necessary and appreciated. They have allowed me to retain my mobility naturally (without a knee replacement) for many years longer than thought.
BUT, if anyone knows anything I can do that is "natural", I would be willing to give it a try!
Wow Jess. I'm glad your grandfather is okay. A lot of people experience the 'over medicated' phase and literally feel like a zombie, which is why a lot of them stop taking the medication. We all need medications for certain things, whether it be for pain, blood pressure, heart meds, but the medications that alter your chemicals in your brain are the ones to watch out for, in my personal opinion.
Thanks for sharing that.
I went to a diet doctor a year ago (lost the weight and alot of hair. The weight is back, the hair is not). I mentioned that eating seemed to be a stress reliever for me or worse, a reaction to depression. She asked the question, so I just answered.
She wrote out a prescription for Anti Depressants, with out blood work, or anything. Just here is your prescription. I asked my medical doctor about it and he said I should NOT take the pills. I didn't, though I think that at times, I could benefit from something like that. I cope pretty well, I just cope on the heavy side.
I agree with the points you made in this post.
Jennifer
I humbly suggest to those of you who have posted your comments here to read the book “Fasting can save your life” written by Doctor Herbert Shelton. The book can be had for free from any public library (if they don’t have it, they’ll get it for you in about a month as the book will be requested using the Public Library’s interconnected system).
Yeah… yeah… I know most of you won’t have the time or the will to read a 350 pages book. If that’s the case, do yourselves a favor by just reading the first ten pages. That’ll be enough as there is no doubt in my mind that none of you will be able to leave the book unfinished.
Debra, I have one warning for you and for those who may actually read it: this is no ordinary book… it may change radically the way you look at certain things you thought to be absolute truths.
I CAN GUARANTEE YOU that whether you will approve or disapprove this book’s content, one day you will thank me for this piece of advice.