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In Reply to: my opinion posted by Acheick on February 18, 2006 at 20:16:05:
I think that these medications can help people with chronic problems. But, I have observed Doctors at my own HMO, Kaiser Permanente, giving out anti-depressants to almost anyone with any kind of complaint that doesn't require stitches.
I mentioned my friend up above. He went in because he was having trouble sleeping due to stress from his ongoing divorce. He came out that day with a bottle of Zoloft. No appointment with a Therapist, I don't know if it was even his regular Doctor that gave it to him.
After that, he really did become a raving lunatic. Someone I'd known for over twenty years. He would who up at court at a hearing all unshaven, ranting and raving yelling the f-word telling his Lawyer that he was going to kill him. Crazy, crazy stuff for a guy who probably had a chance to keep the kids and house before all this.
But, I know another woman for about the same time. I was on stage with her one night at the Burbank Little Theatre, and she just looked ill. Very thin. When the show was over, I asked her if she was okay. She told me she had something called "Anorexia Nervosa". This was in 1976, and I had never heard of such a thing.
She became addicted to Valium, prescribed by her doctor, and things got worse for her. Over the time I knew her she had all kinds of mental problems, and was really a tortured by them.
In more recent years, she finally got on Anti-Depressants, and it has made a world of difference to her. She went back to school and got her Phd, and is now living a happy, more productive life.
I think a lot of the problem is that the drugs sometimes get given to the wrong people.
