This anti psych med bullshit is dangerous. Drugs snapped my brain back to baseline normalcy and away from suicide ideation in a few weeks. I didn't need to take them for long, but it was a switch that needed to be flipped and I couldn't do it by myself.
I thought the message of the comic was that we need to change society to better manage our mental health better not that medication was bad. Like we prop up our society on medication to get people to handle it. But I don't get messages like that clearly so may be wrong.
I wouldn't see it as anti meds but more like our world fucking sucks... Wich is objectively true, especially because depression is at least partially a genetic infection and thats just fucked up.
it's not explicitly anti med. I'm pretty fundamentally anti med for a few reasons. Primarily just the fact that i believe environmental factors are the most prominent influence on day to day life, i think focusing on those to make yourself more productive, and functional is better than being hamstrung to a bunch of drugs, that might probably work, but they might stop working, or you might not be able to get them, or afford them, or they might have really bad side effects, or health insurance is a bitch, etc...
Interestingly, i've seen a lot of rhetoric along these lines (your post included) among people with ADHD, which i understand, but i have to wonder if that's due to dependence on the meds of some form. Which isn't exactly the fault of the individual, when paired with society and it's expectations, it's almost explicitly what you would expect to see, which is a little weird to me. It gives me vibes i dont quite jive with and im not sure how i feel about it.
So, I struggled massively with ADHD symptoms in my teens and 20s. Despite failing out of school, and struggling in all the classic ways, I was never diagnosed.
My folks "didn't want the kids on pills" and so despite needing help I was just called lazy and never received any help.
The best way to mitigate the symptoms is with stimulants. I self prescribed caffeine. If I was in a different environment that could have easily been something illegal.
I was never diagnosed and I wish I was, because if I could have focused on classwork in high school, I could have went to college, and I could have started doing work that interests me at the beginning of my 20s instead of the end of my 20s.
You need to examine your shallow attitude about medication. It's "I don't like it because other stuff is better", and a bunch of anxiety around what if what if what if.
What if you deny your child the one tool that actually allows them to reach their potential? You try these "better" options and waste their youth instead of using methods that are proven to be reliable?
I know this is "just a joke" but I still think it's harmful. Depression may be brought on by being in a bad situation but it isn't simply unhappiness or dissatisfaction with being in that situation. Antidepressants don't make a person artificially happy or numb. If you are clinically depressed because your life sucks, antidepressants may give you the mental fortitude needed to change your circumstances. There are drugs that people do use to try to cope which just make things worse, but you won't get then from a psychiatrist. (You can get the most popular one at the grocery store.)
It's not cool to stigmatize mental illness.
It’s not cool to stigmatize mental illness.
This is not at all what my take away from that comic is. I guess it is somewhat open to interpretation, but I think it rather asks what the underlying societal dynamics are that cause people to develop depressions in the first place.
The meme doesn't stigmatize mental illness because it's not talking about mental illness.
If anything, pathologizing the predictable and inescapable results of living under oppressive systems designed to keep you as down and alienated as possible as a mental illness, instead of a perfectly valid reaction to living in dystopia deeply and negatively impacts how we treat actual mental illness.
The idea that pointing out that we have societal problems pills can't solve is somehow stigmatising actual mental illness (which pills can help) just goes to show how deeply indoctrinated society is in to toxic individualism.
I concur
This was also my takeaway. The comic isn't making a value determination for medication in any form, but instead commenting that we as a society would rather address symptoms rather than address any root causes.
Thank you for saying something. The saying "suffering isn't noble, just take the damn pills" has been floating around lately, and I think it's been changing my mind. I should probably be on something.
I worked at a Psych hospital for a while, it's pretty well accepted that most people could benefit from something sometimes, even if it's just a Valium or a pot brownie.
Can confirm, took a lot of antidepressants, didn't make me artificially happy nor numb.
Agreed. I take them and they have been life changing. They give me the help i need to get out of the dark place I'm in and forge ahead. They have been life changing. Them, therapy, and regular exercise have been amazing for me.
You know what else is not cool? Overreacting and willfully misinterpreting comics just to jerk oneself off.
People who are unhappy with their life tend to medicate. Whether that's alcohol, weed or antidepressants doesn't matter that much.
"YoU kNoW tHoSe PiLlS aRe BaD fOr YoU!"
Cool. Next best option is me being unable to function and longing for death while my brain craves any type of happiness, forcing me to engage in potentially harmful and unhealthy habits to get any hit of happy chemicals that my brain struggles to make naturally.
I'll keep taking the pills, thanks.
But the pills are bad for you!
Well, maybe not you specifically, but they are not to be taken willy-nilly. They often have quite severe side effects, withdrawal syndromes, and, in some cases, long lasting or even permanent damage. Second opinion is not optional, given how trigger happy some of the doctors are to just send you home with a prescription for the hardest hitting shit they have available. Take that from someone who had multiple first-hand experiences of all of the above.
I'd say, IF there is an option to alleviate symptoms and find a place in society without meds, it's definitely a much better option. If not, well, sure, go for it, no third option here. The hardest part is actually figuring out on which side of it you are.
ADHD? I'm postulating a theory as of recent, that people with ADHD, who take meds for ADHD are dependent on them, similar to addiction, but the side effect here is actually being productive, in a shitty society.
I'm not sure the totality of it, or what the general implications are, but it's an interesting thought. So far, everytime i've mentioned this theory to someone with ADHD, i've been yelled at, so uh. Surely that's worth something?
I'm postulating a theory as of recent, that people with ADHD, who take meds for ADHD are dependent on them, similar to addiction
Dependence ≠ addiction.
Diabetics do not have an insulin addiction.
The folks who have scolded you are not doing so baselessly.
When you have chemical deficiencies that affect your brain, people seem much more outspoken about giving their opinion about your affliction. I've heard folks saying "don't do chemo!! These people are just trying to scam you and get your money while killing you!! Maybe you should cut out all that processed food?" Hoo boy. Just.... don't.
Compound that with folks using our already stigmatized & shortage-prone medication for fun, and it gets worse for us.
I love finally being in control of my thoughts and finally feeling normal and able to actually pursue the things I want. But I think the desire to be in control of your functions is.... pretty sane. I don't miss the chaos that was my constantly hopscotching thoughts & unwilling body.
I don't miss the suffering. I'm addicted to "not suffering", probably.
I choose you Cannabis!
Cannabis uses THC, it was super effective.
Hurray! Their humon is weak to thc due to genetics and is now permanently confused!
What I really need is a prescription for $$$$$, but it's a controlled substance and I don't meet the pre-existing conditions to be prescribed.
'Would you rather be happy or right (mutually exclusive)?"
Right. Just because if you only accept things the way they are then you can't improve them, or attempt to anyway.
Well being right makes me happy, but being wrong also does, because I get to be right next time.
Better than nothing, I guess.
Yeah I get it. I just meant that it also hits on another level for me.
But why is this not in the Pawnstars meme-format . . . 😞
what if, we entertained the idea. Somebody should make something, like a tank, but on a bulldozer platform, and then do something amusing with it. That might interesting, i think.
I think it is called alcohol for most actually.
I was here at a point. I still struggle but acceptance of Christ has been an indescribably edifying and healing force. There is a way other than prideful hedonism, cynicism and nihilism. Virtue and beauty can scarcely be found in the modern world but both of these things can be found in abundance in Christ. Make no mistake -- I and every Christian you've ever met fails to live up to the standard set before us but similarly to a recovering alcoholic or drug addict the earnest Christian takes it one day at a time with the sincere hope to arc ever closer to Christ. It is a difficult but beautiful struggle.
I'm not superstitious enough to adhere to the esoteric and religions, but for me I delved into the spirituality side of things.
Meditation and Yoga seem to do the trick for me and probably have similar mental benefits. And bonus, I get in better shape by doing such a nice activity.
Buddha figured this out thousands of years ago: desire and suffering are part of the human existence. It has nothing to do with the nature of society, but the nature of being human. This time isn't unique, and there is no form of society that would fix this for you.
The fix comes from within yourself. If, of course, you aren't suffering from some legit chemical imbalance that needs to be corrected by drugs.
