Thread: We're all living in a Prozac Nation

Originally Posted by Meiwaku

I am sure everyone has heard about Tom Cruise's little attack on Brooke Shields.Tom Cruise claims that psychiatry is just BS and putting people on medication is pointless and stupid. Agree or disagree with him?

Actually, I agree with Tom Cruise. I've heard a lot of stories where people were misdiagnosed with ADD, ADHD. etc. and had a lot of chances lost for them.

Edit: I don't think I answered the topic completely...

They overdiagnose, and all in all, I believe that people HAVE been using certain medical conditions as excuses for bad parenting (ADD, ADHD), and so it's gone from being a rather uncommon thing to lots of people claiming either they or someone else has it.

I think its just like any other prescribed drug, yes people are misdiagnosed, but then there are some people that really need it and it really helps them. Its tough to decide for or against though because either way people are suffering. They cant get rid of the drug completely, but they also need to be more careful prescribing it, but there is just not way to control who prescribes what and how. You just have to hope you are getting the right prescription or get a second opinion. This is a tough battle to fight especially when you dont kow what is right from wrong. I guess if people knew about the drugs and what they do a little more then it could help them decide whether they need them or not, but in this world people are too quick to let someone else do the worl for them rather than trying to understand it themselves.

Okay actually I agree with Tom Cruise for that fact that no person really know what a person with ADD/ ADHD are really feeling since they don't know I live with it everyday of my life and I have never had any antideppresion, but I feel like that everyone I know or talk to says that I am different because of the way I act or just because i think differently it is hard for people to understand that is some ways it can be helped but in others like myslef it is up to the person not the drug that can help.

To tell you my opinion........ there is no such thing as ADD. In my country you don't see that, you know why? If you do bad in school here, they ground you, in the Dominican Republic, they would kick you ass. Your mom and dad could be sued for doing that in this country. ADD is just a name for something that could be straightened out with a belt. So I think there is no such thing as ADD

Originally Posted by Meiwaku

Tom Cruise claims that psychiatry is just BS and putting people on medication is pointless and stupid. Agree or disagree with him?

Both.

I'm in the unique position of having family/in-laws with both depression and ADHD. It - is - very - real. In extreme cases the only thing that does help is medication. Medication that enables them to control themselves so they don't hurt themselves and others. Vitamins don't hack it. You can't just "pull yourself out of it". Anyone who thinks otherwise is deluding themselves.

That said, yes, they are perscribing these drugs to people and children who don't need it and they are doing it alot. These drugs should only be used as a LAST resort not a FIRST solution. They are replacing using the drugs so the person can "control themselves" with using the drugs so others can "control them".

THIS TICKS ME OFF! They are abusing the drugs unnessesarily and giving them a bad name making it more difficult for those who ACTUALLY NEED THEM!

THEY NEED TO CUT IT OUT!

But I don't think that's going to happen.

On the subject of Tom Cruise, I think the man has gone off the deep end with the same short-person paranoia that afflicted Napoleon and Hitler.

As for psychiatrists and ADD/ADHD, I feel that many head-shrinkers are over-prescribing medicines as a an easy way out of having to do some actual therapy. The same is true with depression and the prescribing of anti-depressant medications. Parent brings in a kid who teachers say have ADD/ADHD, the psychiatrist takes a quick look, says "Yep," prescribes some drugs, and off they go. On the other hand, a good psychiatrist will spend more time with the child getting to the root of the problem.

There are definitely kids out there who have a serious case of ADD or ADHD and should be medicated as part of a total psychiatric regimen, but I think that there are many more times when it's a one-shot deal where the shrink gives a quick diagnosis, the prescription is written and that's that -the drugs are supposed to supply the cure when in truth the drugs are just to mitigate the symptoms while the cure is found through psychiatric therapy.

Originally Posted by ryke12

Actually, I agree with Tom Cruise. I've heard a lot of stories where people were misdiagnosed with ADD, ADHD. etc. and had a lot of chances lost for them.

What part of what Tom Cruise says do you agree with though? You have to watch, he claims that postpartum depression can simply be cured with vitimans and women don't need any medication to help it. All his claims come from stuff he's read, and he himself never really explains why he thinks it's BS he just keeps saying he's well read in the area. His suggestions about taking vitamins for postpartum depression have actually upset alot of psychiatrists. postpartum depression is a very real illness that effects women and can cause even the most level headed women to have a psychotic break and end up harming herself and/or her child/chidren. He's trying to discredit all drugs like that, he's not even taking into consideration the people who may need it.

Originally Posted by ryke12

They overdiagnose, and all in all, I believe that people HAVE been using certain medical conditions as excuses for bad parenting (ADD, ADHD), and so it's gone from being a rather uncommon thing to lots of people claiming either they or someone else has it.

I'm not sure what side to take on the topic of ADD and ADHD because on one hand it does seem like it's been over diagnosed, but on the other hand there is a criteria and a long process that goes on before the child is diagnosed with it. It's not just a simple "My child is hyper active I can't control them, give them Ritalin" and then the doctor just goes and writes out a prescription.
There is some what of a case study done before they accurately diagnose (Doctors who do their jobs anyways) They must interview the child as well as the parents, and go though this list of stuff that determines weather the child is just hyper or weather they actually have a problem. Second of all they ask the child's teachers to fill out a sheet on the child too, and after reading everything they've gathered they decide weather or not the child has ADD/ADHD.

Second of all I would like to add that a common misconception about a child with ADD is that they are hyper or out of control and are bad. In fact you some children with ADD are often very quiet and withdrawn in social situations and in school. And most often the ADD in those types are not picked up till they are older, teenage years even early adult hood.

An article by Eileen Bailey on the Web site About.com explains that ADD/ADHD is not a new disease, as a man who is referred to as Dr. Still first documented it in 1902 in Britain. Still coined his cases of impulsive behavior as a "defect of moral control." He and other doctors over the past century have confirmed that ADD/ADHD is a genetic medical disease that runs in the family and occurs in the prefrontal part of the brain.

Bailey also listed some of the main differences between ADD and ADHD in personality traits. Patients of ADD tend to be docile, obedient, shy, overly polite and under-assertive. They make lasting bonds, test low and have an understanding of boundaries
( http://www.epilepsyproject.org/xml/pr_1119274212 )

The problem is though that the medication they use to treat this disorder can be very harmful and dangerous if prescribed to people who don't need them. The way the medication works is actually beneficial to everyone. Dexedrine, Ritalin, adderall they are all stimulants. If someone takes them their alertness and concentration is going to go up but the other parts of them are going to get hyped up as well. Someone who actually needs it the medication calms them down.

As for Anti depressants I am kind of at a cross roads when it comes to that. I'm sure most people who have been on them might argue for them saying they saved their lives and worked great and what not, but I'm going to argue against them for the most part. I'm not saying people don't need them and they don't work but I think we over use them and just because they are working some seem to over look the potential harm they cause. Some people need them and they take them and they work great, but other people who even though they need them as well the drugs have very bad effects on them and instead of taking them off the drugs their parents or doctors try to fix it with more drugs, either by upping the dosage or trying them on a new anti depressant.

The problem is that when it starts working on people they think it's the new quick fix and it has to work on all depressed people or it should anyways and if it doesn't work maybe you're not depressed. It doesn't occur to some that even a wonder drug doesn't always work on everyone.