Before we had medication for mental health, it was unreal, people in chains.
With some conditions, we even know which chemicals are at work, like with, say depression…with serotonin, etc.
Medications aren’t perfect, but I used to interpret in mental health, mainly in one place that was for kids and teens. Meds helped TREMENDOUSLY!
Some people have asked me about my work there, and I LOVED it. Of all the places I have interpreted, that was my FAVORITE place of them all. Some have asked me if it was depressing, listening to people talk about their problems.
No, actually it wasn’t like that to me at all. I watched people with all kinds of problems from bipolar, obsessive compulsive, I think ADD, ADHD, autism, right on up. They would come through the door, a mess, and leave, much better.
As to medication, I have seen some teachers who could readily tell if a student was on, or off, meds. If the person was off, it was just awful. They would often be impossible to work with.
Many times now, medications aren’t even like they were even 20 years ago. A lot of the addictive ones have been taken out, and some aren’t even addictive, now.
With many medications, when you first start taking them, you can even get worse for a time. Yet, one needs to give them the full time to work. The time varies with the meds, but my ex-husband said he had to wait 6 weeks for his med to work. In that time, he felt worse! He told the doctor he was WORSE! The doctor said to give it the 6 weeks, and then he felt relief, was SO glad he stuck it out.
My ex-husband had panic attacks, and without meds, he would do things like sing 99 Bottles of Beer on the Wall! He had OC and said it was a shame his father never knew to try meds. Instead, he tried to self medicate using alcohol, was an alcoholic. My ex-husband said, of his father, that if he would have only been on meds, he could have enjoyed his life!
I’ve used medication for depression. My family has a history of depression. One of my sisters had a nervous breakdown. I WISH she would try some medication! She refuses to speak to ALL of us…including her ex-husband and two children.
The advent of medication in psychiatry has pretty much revolutionalized the entire system. Now, there’s hope.
I have had times when I have been suicidally depressed, and antidepressants have possibly, literally, been a life saver. My only regret is not discovering this years ago, like in my adolescence.
I have an aunt who was well known in the family for being chronically grumpy and difficult. I saw her at the end of her life, and she said once, she was talking to a doctor, describing her feelings, to which he said, “You’re depressed!”
He gave her some medication, and she insisted from that point on, she was a completely different person. She was happy, fun to be around! She said her only regret was not trying meds years ago!
I’ve seen one kid with autism with meds, improve, even with that!
We have had kids who are having all kinds of problems, can’t focus, are hyperactive, take some meds…do better with their behavior, grades.
I’ve seen people resist medications, because sometimes parents don’t want to try them with their children, for many reasons. The bad behavior will often persist and persist and persist until the parents finally give in to try meds. Then, they generally see they aren’t so bad and seem to wonder how they ever did without them.
With medication, one can also try them. Psychiatrists typically start anyone out on the lowest dosages, go up from there, gradually increasing till they get it right for that person.
So, many people fear, needlessly, thinking all these terrible things are going to happen, when that’s usually not the case. Or, they can think that they, as outpatients, will not be in control of this, but no. On an outpatient basis, you’re in control.
I have a friend who was sexually abused by a relative for 2 years, and as a result, he has PTSD. He tried meds probably about 30 years ago. He said they were too strong. I’ve encouraged him to go back, try again.
Also, some people go once, and call that “trying”. I asked if he went back, explained that, and no. He didn’t. He calls THAT an “attempt”!
Anyway, my friend will lash out in anger with basically anyone, and I believe it’s related to the above but believe in my heart of hearts that medicine has changed significantly since, wish he’d give it another shot.
However, he’s closed off. I’ve watched him go from relationship to relationship, with 3 failed marriages and more failed relationships, mainly due to his temper. He basically can’t sustain a relationship, and he makes everyone around him, miserable.
I WISH he’d try meds, again, for our sake and his own.
I’ve heard psychiatrists talk to the patients, and really the patients have a lot of control. I think some outpatients believe they will lose control or something, and no. That’s not the case.
As to meds, yeah, there will always be a person from time to time, who will abuse medication, but even so, I would not use that as a reason, for myself, not to try a medication to see if it might help.
What does one really have to lose? One could try medication. If one is unhappy with the results, you go back and say you want to switch…or change the dosage. If one’s still unhappy, you’re still in control, can just ask to stop and how to go about that.
Because a friend or relative used a medication, abused it, or had it not work, or not prescribed properly, doesn’t mean that will necessarily also happen to you. Each person is a different case. I think some medication could take the “edge” off the rage, in all honesty without ultimately being problematic. It’s your call, though.
