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Michael Moore's new docu to bring in antidepressants and shootings
He won't have to go far for information. To make "Bowling for Columbine" he convinced one Columbine victim to go onscreen by telling him and his parents that he would explore the link between those killers' medication and their actions, which the victim and parents thought was the key issue. Of course, he didn't, once he had the footage in hand.
I'm told the essence of the issue is that *most* of the time antidepressants work as intended. But in a minority of cases they don't. They can push a bipolar from depression into manic states, etc. They can also take a person who is so deeply depressed that he doesn't commit suicide -- that requires decisionmaking, and implies there is hope -- and raise him/her enough to where they can commit suicide without getting them to where they don't want to. It's a matter of the doctor keeping a close eye on things as treatment begins.
Also it's a matter of choice of drug. The newest and more expensive ones are more reliable and have fewer side-effects. But for patients on federally-subsidized medical care, the government bean counters often require that the older ones be used, to save money. (So much for Moore's probable thesis that if the government took over medicine, all would be cheerful). The bean-counters who pay for the medicine are probably different than the bean-counters who pay for committments, so if the patient has problems and winds up committed it doesn't come out of the first set of bean-counters' budgets, and paying for it is someone else's problem.
Comments
The problem with manic-depressives seems to be that the depressed phase of the ailment follows the manic phase, always. It is impossible to feel good all the time, so if you have learned how to feel super great, beyond what is normal, for some time, it is inevitable that a depressed state will follow. The best medications for manic-depressives are the ones that inhibit the manic phase, in which case the depressive phase never shows up. However, some (many?) M-D's don't appreciate that and stop taking the medication.
The real problem shows up when a manic-depressive is treated with anti-depressants. The problem here is that the manic phase is allowed to perpetuate beyond the normal natural limit where the depressive state would take over. Instead, the sufferer "goes into debt" in a psychological sense even more deeply than otherwise. This time, when the depressive phase takes over, it will be that much worse.
Of course, the response of the medical community is to increase the dosage of medication given, which works temporarily, but leads the biological system of the patient in exactly the wrong dimension. This viscous cycle worsening continues in this manner until a crisis results. It is completely ridiculous.
Posted by: ben at April 22, 2007 09:50 PM
Argh, I meant "direction," not "dimension."
Posted by: ben at April 22, 2007 09:51 PM
The trouble is that psychiatrists are held up as the infallible high priests of our modern society acting as expert witnesses in court cases for the purpose of getting heinous murders shunted off into institutional settings so as to avoid forfeiting life for taking life. Having been seen by a shrink qualifies one for having a mental health history that effectively makes said individual perjure himself on a DROS form when he checks the no box and signs said form. I'm not going to say there's too much money in the medical and pharmeceutical industries, just saying there's something deeply wrong when they stifle the discussion because it might risk some of that income.
Posted by: The Mechanic at April 23, 2007 02:23 PM