| Topic: |
Sociology > Depression |
| User: |
"Bubbles" |
| Date: |
08 Jul 2005 10:58:56 PM |
| Object: |
Blogcritics, Opinion: Scientology, Tom Cruise, And Medication |
Scientology, Tom Cruise, And Medication
Posted by gypsyman on July 07, 2005
It used to be walking down the street of any major city in North
America (and Europe, I discovered) that people would stop you and ask
if you would like to take a personality test. They promised it would
reveal all sorts of secrets about you and help you make important life
decisions.
It turned out that the most important decision you could make in your
life was joining the Church of Scientology. They could provide all the
answers for all the questions you could possibly have on your journey
through life. If you became a Scientologist the world was your oyster.
What do you do if you're the author of a bunch of pretty bad science
fiction books which aren't selling worth squat and you want to be
famous anyway? Do what L. Ron Hubbard did and start a religion. I'm
sure most of you have seen his massive books littering remainder bins
in bookstores everywhere. By far the worst examples of deforestation in
existence.
So I think I can be excused for choking on my morning coffee when I
hear the pronouncements of Tom Cruise extolling the virtues of
Scientology over that of trained practitioners of psychiatry. Now,
I'm no advocate of the "there's a pill for every ill that afflicts
you" school of medicine, but that's not to say that certain people at
particular points in their lives don't need the assistance of
medication.
Depression and other psychiatric illnesses can be genuinely
debilitating to those afflicted with them. The causes of depression can
be deep rooted and deep seated, ranging from the after affects of
childhood abuse to the stress of having just too many things to cope
with. Medication will not cure depression, that can only be done by
dealing with the issue causing it, but it can provide relief to the
patient of its crippling symptoms.
Anyone who has ever suffered from clinical depression knows just how
horrendous the experience can be. If bad enough and left untreated it
can lead to suicide. It doesn't mean that you are just a little blue
or down in the dumps. It means that you have lost the will to live at
all.
There's nothing left that motivates you to do anything. In some cases
the patient is so badly afflicted that getting out of bed is simply not
worth it to them. Those things like family and friends that used to
mean so much to you, have no meaning anymore. You neglect yourself and
them because what's the point anyway?
This lack of motivation also feeds the depression, because now you
start to feel worthless. It becomes a vicious circle of depression, not
being able to do anything, and further depression. Without something to
break the downward spiral a person could fall in perpetuity.
That's where medication comes in, but not as a cure all or a panacea
that will make the world a place better for the patient. Since most
anti-depressants work as feeling suppressers the person using them will
actually be in the position of not being able to feel any extremes of
emotions. Neither sadness nor joy will play a role in their lives.
While this state of mind is not conducive to living life to the
fullest, it's a lot better than being bed ridden. Once the sufferer
begins to respond to the medication they must begin to seek therapy to
deal with the root causes of the depression. As this can be a drawn out
process, with almost as many steps backward as forward, the necessity
for medication remains until the patient has shown significant
improvement.
Like all medications that work with brain chemistry, antidepressants
can have significant contradictions dependant on dosage. In the early
stages of treatment it is essential for the physician and the patient
to work together closely in monitoring client reactions, physical and
emotional, to the drug. Otherwise they could end up causing more harm
then good.
Recovery from severe emotional trauma can take years. Sometimes after
an initial couple of years of therapy a patient will feel well enough
to be taken off medication and begin to pick up the pieces of their
life. But some years down the road they may find that problems start to
return.
Deep seated emotional scars are like an onion, with many layers waiting
to be peeled back until the core is reached. Our psyches are only able
to deal with so much at any given time and need to take breaks from
recovery. While some people find that their problems have been solved
by dealing with only the external layers, others need to delve deeper
to find complete relief.
It's usually some sort of other trauma, a physical injury, the loss
of somebody close or the end of a long term relationship, that triggers
the onset of symptoms again. Sometimes the person who had previously
suffered depression displays a different reaction, such as anxiety or
panic disorders, when they relapse. New symptoms require new medication
and new therapy.
The only way for these patients to obtain significant control over
their lives again is to continue the process of uncovering those
details of their lives that caused the symptoms to begin with. There is
the danger that a person can fall into the trap of becoming dependent
on analysis, or of over analysis, to the point that they lose sight of
the fact that all humans have difficulties at one time or another
without there necessarily having to be any hidden meaning.
There comes a point when it becomes essential that clients learn to
differentiate between the normal day to day stress of living and that
which is caused by a prior experienced trauma. Unfortunately for some
this point may never be reached as they were too severely traumatized
to ever be able to cope with the realities of today's world.
The pharmaceutical companies would have us believe that there is a pill
for every problem and if you only take their tablet all your problems
will be solved. There are doctors who keep their patients in a
continual pharmaceutical haze either because of laziness or ignorance.
Any number of patients misdiagnosed are too many and too many have
ended up in the psychiatric wards of hospitals from having been
prescribed medications that do more harm then good.
The nonsense that Tom Cruise and the scientologists are espousing as
gospel is even more damaging. Mental illnesses are real and need to be
treated in a responsible manner with proper support and respect.
Patients are vulnerable to suggestion, and the slightest indication
that their problems lack validity (that the problems are "all in
their head," so to speak) seriously undermines their hopes for
recovery.
People are free to believe what they want and to live their lives in
any way they see fit. But advocating theories that are potentially
dangerous, based on no proof except your say so, is highly
irresponsible, especially for a person of Mr. Cruise's influence. His
fame is not an adequate credential for giving medical advice.
(gypsyman has been undergoing therapy for post traumatic stress
syndrome caused by childhood sexual abuse on and off since 1994. While
some may consider the matter open for debate, he feels that it has
helped him significantly. He is currently in therapy and on medication
for anxiety and panic disorder.)
http://blogcritics.org/archives/2005/07/07/031857.php
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