Have you been helped or harmed by psych meds?

[DUDale]

What is a mental health diagnosis to begin with? It's nothing that can be absolutely confirmed by an x-ray, mri, blood test or any other diagnostic test. It's an opinion. In the united states it's often a corrupt opinion and clearly not credible in many cases. I have had a shrink give me a diagnosis after speaking with me for approximately 1 minute and me not saying much of anything. How can this be credible or valid?! This happens in the united states often because the psychiatrist knows he needs to diagnose a mental illness to get paid. As for the meds they presribe, I believe absolutely do way more harm than good. I wonder if they ever do any good at all. I see no real evidence that anyone ever benefits from them. I have heard from a lot of people how they have been harmed by psych meds. SSRIs are commonly prescribed for people with suicidal ideation in spite of the fact that suicidal ideation is listed as 1 of the prominent side effects. Shrinks prescribe high powered stimulants like adderall and ritalin to children and many go on to become cocaine or meth addicts when they reach adulthood. I am interested in what others here think and have experienced. I personally have never benefited in any way from any psych meds.

 

[Irisse]

I think they are useless if your living situation is bad. If, for instance, you have to spend every day with abusive family or toxic workmates, how are antidepressants supposed to help with that? What a person with such circumstances needs is to get away and find a way to support themselves. I do believe they can help if the illness is based on chemical disregulation but most of the time doctors perscribe them because they don't know what else to do or they play by their textbooks.

 

[DUDale]

I think they are useless if your living situation is bad. If, for instance, you have to spend every day with abusive family or toxic workmates, how are antidepressants supposed to help with that? What a person with such circumstances needs is to get away and find a way to support themselves. I do believe they can help if the illness is based on chemical disregulation but most of the time doctors perscribe them because they don't know what else to do or they play by their textbooks.

Also they have pharmaceutical sales reps visit doctors and tell them how wonderful their products are and often doctors get lucrative kickbacks for prescribing them.

 

[dust-in-the-wind]

They helped me for years but eventually didn't work anymore.

 

[melonpan]

For awhile, I've had good experiences, it just seems that recently, it's been less effective even with different medications or increased dosages.
The only one that actually seems the MOST effective to me is one that makes me too drowsy to even attend classes sometimes (that my parents pay for) so I seldom take it.

I also don't have intrusive thoughts as often anymore, hardly at all and they aren't loud although I also struggle with properly forming thoughts in my brain.

 

[idiotmother]

I'm suicidal because of these meds, it's criminal what they can do and none of the professionals acknowledge the damage. It's appalling.