I feel distressed after listening to an interview on the topic of psychiatric treatment with Michael Enright (broadcaster) and Robert Whitaker (author and investigative journalist) on public radio. Whitaker wrote the book, Anatomy of an Epidemic… , his thesis being that psychiatric drugs damage the brain, rather than treat mental illness, and backs up his thesis with facts from research. Whitaker stated that the psychiatric concept that mental illnesses are an imbalance in brain chemistry has been proven wrong in research. He said the idea has been maintained over past decades so that doctors and the general public could believe that the drugs actually treated/helped people with mental illnesses get better. Doctors and psychiatrists therefore prescribed them (and drug companies grew wealthy). Whitaker said research has proved that the idea of low serotonin as a cause of depression is false. (No wonder doctors have consistently admitted that they did not know how psych drugs worked. They couldn't work based on a theory that is downright wrong.) Whitaker said evidence-based research showed that more non-medicated people with depression recovered than did medicated ones.
Whitaker further said that anti-depressants contribute to the long-term continuance of depression; they cause chronic depression; they prevent recovery. He did say that drugs worked for some people and that they were effective mostly for short-term treatment. But he added that psych meds actually damage the human brain and chemical imbalance (due to brain plasticity). (Brain plasticity is the ability of the brain to adapt to new conditions in the brain (like drugs)). He figures that scientists still don't understand the mysteries of the workings of the human brain and that's why they have erred.
He went on to say that the DSM plainly states that the concept of low serotonin as a cause of depression is an idea, a theory, only. The DSM also changed some decades ago from supporting a position of psychological causes of mental illnesses to one of mental illnesses as diseases of the brain. This enabled Big Pharma to invent a plethora of drugs to supposedly treat the diseases.
Then Whitaker concluded that the best treatments for mental illnesses are talk therapy, exercise, diet and nutrition, and so on.
Thus, I've been lied to since my diagnoses of mental illness since 1997. A long time. I feel angry that my psychiatrists and doctors have fallen for the lie and poisoned my brain and body with drugs. What a waste my past 17 years have been. Yet, I have to admit that the drug Seroquel helps me feel better. I wonder how my life would have been had my psychiatrist and doctor prescribed it in first 1997, instead of the series of Prozac, Paxil, Epival, Serzone, Serax, Clonazepam, and Rivotril. I'm too old to care about life style methods of treatment. These mattered when I was a working person and needed to be fit to go to work, but now that I'm retired, I don't really care.
I dont know a lot about drugs, although I guess the medical profession are still learning what works best. I heard that a doctor may start someone on one medication and then graduate to the one that works best, hence a variety in between. It is possible they cause some brain damage, although the benefits hopefully outweigh this. It must be a case that it is easier to prescribe meds than a course of lengthy counselling and life supporting programmes. I learned that in many cases medication plus therapy works best. Personally though I would prefer no drugs and to be natural. If you have tried everything else though, it could be that the medications are something which gives benefit. If they are not feeling right though, I suggest speaking to your doctor.
Thank you for your comments. I can’t believe I waited three years to get back to you. Over this time, I’ve become less angry about the drugs. I find that Seroquel prevents numerous mood swings, and has enabled me to find purpose to my life.