Oomis, before you go jumping down everyone’s throat please understand that there are other conditions aside from clinical depression that are medical and require anti-anxiety and/or anti-depression drugs. These type of drugs are so named for convenience sake and are used for various different illnesses. Please as I asked before watch the video to hear the explanations from the professionals.
You particularly had a very scary experience and you are entitled to be wary. However, it is a parent’s responsibility to determine whether or not their child was diagnosed properly and whether their doctor has their child’s best interest at heart or not. The parent can tell whether the medication is making an improvement in the child’s life or not. If the child has a chemical imbalance and the medication is helping to balance the child and help the child to function at his/her best capacity then there is a need for the medication and it is a benefit to the child along with other therapeutic measures depending on what the diagnosis is. On the other hand, if the medication is NOT doing anything to help the child then it is up to the parent to advocate for that child and wean that child off the medication with the help of the doctor. If the doctor does not agree, the parent has the right to get a second opinion.
The fact that you had a bad experience does NOT negate the fact that there are many, many kids who have issues and can been helped with medication. There are also many school officials who push parents to put their children on medication for their own convenience even though the kids don’t necessarily need it. Having said that there are also many parents who are in denial and delay helping their children because they refuse to believe that there is anything wrong with the child and refuse to give them medication that can really help them.
So yes it is a very touchy subject and the best a person can do, is NOT put ALL their trust in any physician and be an educated consumer. Ask questions, do research and go for second opinions. For those who are against taking medication you are entitled to your opinion, but for anyone who is on medication and functions to their utmost ability because of it, your arguments don’t hold water. Because for them life was just not productive or satisfying without being able to function at their highest capacity or to their utmost ability.
If you don’t know anyone with Bi-polar disorder then you are lucky to not see a person suffer two very, very different and unmanageable extremes. One in which the patient can be up for four days in a row convinced that they can possibly conquer the world, fix the world’s problems, help everyone, fix everything, do anything, etc without sleep or food. Just going, going, going like the energizer bunny until they crash to the other extreme where they can’t get their face off the floor and they would rather die than make the effort to move to the bed, take a shower, eat or even answer the phone. However, when they are on their medication, in most cases, you wouldn’t even know that they suffer the illness. They are not crazy and they don’t have a mental disorder, they have a medical condition, where the wiring in their brain is misfiring because there are chemicals in their brain that are either too high, too low, or just out of balance like other psychiatric conditions. These issues cannot be cured by other methods because other methods do nothing to replace or rebalance the chemicals that are out of sync.
The professionals in the video explain that once a patient is chemically balanced for whatever the condition is, they can then be helped through therapy to function normally again and get their life back into working order.