Posted by Questionmark on May 28, 2004, at 17:00:30
In reply to Thoughts on psychiatry...and life, posted by harryp on May 26, 2004, at 0:18:22
> I am very puzzled by psychiatry.
>
> I have been treated by various med-school faculty psychiatrists for nearly a decade now.
>
> To say my experience was a disappointment would be a gross understatement. I lost years of my life to this horrible disease (chronic suicidal depression/anxiety).
>
> I was on Prozac and Welbutrin for years even though it didn't work (this didn't seem to concern my doc, who implied that there was nothing better and it was better to take something). I was naive (as well as debilitated) at the time and assumed that the doctors knew more than I ever could.
>
> When I became actively suicidal, I would typically get a new, well-marketed, equally useless drug. I saw other doctors, received antipsychotics, mood stabilizers, etc. I have taken most of the drugs mentioned on this forum.
>
> The only drugs I was never offered were the only ones that have been proven effective in major depression: the TCA's and MAOI's.
>
> To his credit, my current doctor did mention MAOI's when I made it clear I was going to make final arrangements if things didn't get better. He didn't like the idea, though, and I had to pressure him to get a prescription for Parnate.
>
> So it's been seven months on Parnate. I recently turned 29, but that's not right. Last year was...1990, I think. I was fifteen, and the world looked something the way it does now. Clouds had three dimensions, and the sky was such a strange color, like an ocean turned upside down. You could get lost in it. Then something happened...what was it?
>
> I know I've been luckier than many on this forum, and it's foolish to wonder what might have been. I've survived because of some very good friends, a very old drug, and a pharmacologically-passive yet mercifully open-minded psychoanalyst.
>
> I can't help but wonder...why isn't the agony and loss of mental illness real? Other doctors listen to their patients and fight for them. They try everything. If our illness is real, why aren't more of our doctors?
Hey. Nice post. Great questions, & comments.
i'm especially fond of this statement: "I recently turned 29, but that's not right. Last year was...1990, I think." i'm a month shy of 24, but i can't tell you how many times i've had thoughts like that. Ah, regret: quite often a most viscious enemy of depressives.
poster:Questionmark
thread:350015
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20040527/msgs/351627.html