Psychiatrists as Pill Pushers

Make no mistake here: This phenomena has nothing to do with the failed US War on Drugs. This is all about the dumbing down of Americans using widely prescribed psychotropic drugs. I still cannot locate any valid up-to-date statistics, but I have found journal articles and investigative articles that back my viewpoint on the topic.

There's not much that I consider as annoying as the drug commercials on television these days. The most absurd part of every commercial is the quickie disclaimer; you know – the “side effects may include nausea, brain hemorrhage, vomiting, dizziness, and death” inclusion. What type of idiot would take the crap?

I may be weird, but I read warning labels on just about any product and certainly on prescription pamphlets. Back when I was 20ish years, I considered birth control pills and easily received a prescription for the things. I went home and read the included instruction booklet and the long list of potentially fatal and definitely scary side effects and threw the damn crap in the garbage. Who in their right mind would take something that could cause all of that? I mean, it obviously has caused such problems or the statements wouldn't be there.

I have no clue what warnings come with a Xanax or a Zoloft prescription, but must imagine it wouldn't sound inviting to me. I read an article dated July, 12, 2011, written by James Ridgeway for Al Jazeera: Mass Psychosis in the US. This written work discusses much of what I have had on my mind in relation to the proliferation of pill pushing psychiatrists in the last decade or so.

I have met many people on this crap for depression, anxiety, insomnia, panic attacks etc... They are referred to as the anti-psychotic drugs in the article. Child overactive or argumentative? You can get a quick diagnosis of ADD or ADHD or bipolar and the mind-numbing prescriptions to go with it. Joey will be a complacent and contented little boy in less than a week, unless someone tries to come between him and his drugs.

My personal experience with this was a doctor's attempt to give my own child the crap when he was eleven years. I told the dipshit to drop dead and found a better doctor. No, we would not be drugging my child just because a couple of teachers are too damned lazy to get off their collective asses and participate in their own classes.

My first experience with the drug Ritalin was back in 1988. I was working at a youth center on a USAF base as a recreation aid. I worked the before and after school program and the skate nights and other events. There was a boy named Eric enrolled and his mother was a major in the USAF. Eric was a bit rambunctious as any 10 year old should be. My co-workers viewed Eric as a problem, but I viewed my co-workers as lazy asses that wanted a bunch of quiet children so they could gossip or drink soda or whatever.

One day Eric's mother the USAF major came in for a private discussion with our director. We were all later informed that Eric was going to be placed on a newer drug that should help with his behavior. Yep – they drugged little Eric to make their lives easier. I always played basketball with Eric and kept him active and occupied, but this new drugged Eric had no such interest. He went from knocking me in the head with a basketball and tripping me as I skated to sitting quietly and reading at a table with an occasional, “Hi Miss Vicky”. Now everyone else loved little Eric, but I freaked out on it – they drugged him. It wasn't much longer and I left that lousy job. Recreation my ass.

A main reason that many people in the US get on these anti-psychotic drugs these days is to collect Social Security Disability and the other financial benefits that come with it. You're actually considered mentally disabled and unable to work so you sit back and collect food stamps, mucho cash monthly, and have all of your time free to do what you want. What a deal, right? Well, as entrepreneurial as I try to be when there isn't interference from one direction or another, I consider the pill-popping sponges to be criminals.

I have a friend that had major heart surgery. They had to break her breastbone to do the surgery – maybe this is the case with all women; I'm not sure as I admit to avoiding doctors all my life. Anyway, Crystal really could not work and was really disabled after the surgery. She refused all painkillers once she came out of surgery because she knew she could handle pain for a short time, but couldn't handle a long drug addiction later. She was intelligent enough to know better, yet I see people all around me taking flippin' pain killers for something like arthritis. How absurd!

Now Crystal owned an escort service at the time she had the heart troubles and serious surgery. When she got out of the hospital she had plenty of bills due and feared answering the phone as she knew that I was about to be arrested. Agents had threatened her and tried to force her to be a witness in my case, but she managed to skip town just before my trial.

Anyway, Crystal tried to collect Social Security Disability and even pushed it to court when she was refused. An Orange County, FL Administrative Court judge actually instructed her to go back into the escort business – there was no reason she couldn't answer the phone and deal with booking calls for substantial income. Eventually she won her Social Security claim in a NC court and the judge didn't try to shove her back into the escort business. Yet anyone and their brother can claim depression, obtain various prescription drugs for it, and get Social Security Disability and various other benefits.

What is wrong with this picture? What is wrong in this country?

Psychotropic Drugs and the Dumbing Down of America

Usually the expression “dumbing down of America” is used in relation to our education system, which is an entirely different problem. My reference to the term is the over-prescribing of psychotropic drugs in society today. Is this occurring in other countries also or is it a US problem?

I have been working on a thesis of sorts that somewhere around 75% of the population in the US is on psychotropic drugs. The figure could be closer to 65% - it is hard to tell as current statistics are not available. I only know what I see and what I encounter, and it sure isn't good news. I'm not one to regularly visit doctors and I'm not on the mind-altering drugs and never have been, but these days almost everyone that I encounter is prescribed one psych drug or another.

The most commonly prescribed psych drugs are Xanax, Prozac, and Zoloft, but others are widely used as well. Those that take this stuff will quickly defend it with statements like, “I have a chemical imbalance,” but this is a translation of “I'm mentally unstable and being treated for psychiatric problems”. These people consider themselves stable and able to function right next to the rest of us, but they are not.

To know how I feel about psychotropic drugs, you need only read, The State of Florida Drugs its Witnesses. Most of the state's witnesses in my case were on mind-altering drugs, rendering their testimony totally worthless to anyone that can still think around here. My two co-defendants were the most medicated of all.

I had a friend that I no longer speak to that has been on psychotropic drugs for over a decade. She will quickly defend the practice and refuse any mention of rehab as a solution. Okay, I will be blunt here: She is downright hostile and aggressive towards any mention of her entering a rehab facility and getting off the crap and it ended our friendship a while back. She had good reason to go on the stuff long ago, but that line of reasoning should have been over at least 8 years ago. What kind of lousy doctor would prescribe this crap to anyone for years?

I recently made the mistake of voicing my thoughts on the mind-altering prescription drugs in relation to prolonged use on a forum and after the first statement escaped my keyboard, I was attacked and trashed by almost all that entered the discussion. As a matter of fact, the attacks were the worst that I have ever experienced, which says a lot. Good God – never dare try to come between the mentally afflicted and their medications! (more on that story in the next couple of days)

I truly hope that state authorities are keeping-up with lists of those receiving treatment for mental problems, but I seriously doubt it. Think about situations in your life wherein you are asked the question, “Have you ever been treated for a mental condition or problem?” This question is asked when you're applying for insurance or try to purchase a gun and in many cases on employment applications. Now consider how many in our population should be answering that question with a “yes” but probably do not.

The main issue to me at this moment in time is that the great majority of people on psychotropic drugs cannot recognize that they are addicted to a drug (or 2 or 10) and consider themselves mentally stable when they sure as hell are not. Never attempt to debate or argue with a gang of people with mental problems – trust me; it doesn't work out well at all. These people are aggressive, irritable, and downright angry.

My advice? Get a new psychiatrist, go to a rehab and get off addicting drugs, and stop thinking of yourself as mentally stable because you are not, at least not while you are on psychotropic drugs.

One good thing about it: This is my blog and they sure as hell cannot attack me here. LOL