Earlier in the week I posted a piece by the lovely Hyla Molander on surviving death and depression. I thought in this piece she said something rather profound. She said that taking her antidepressants meant “choosing happiness.” And I think this is a really important point. Taking medication often means choosing happiness over pain or simply choosing life over death.
People Feel Pressured to Stop Medications
I recently wrote a piece outlining some guidelines on medication discontinuation. I did this because many people do elect to stop taking medications and it’s much better if people follow sensible guidelines when doing so.
But I recognize that bipolar disorder is typically a lifelong illness and typically requires lifelong treatment. Doctors will often, quite reasonably, talk about a lifetime of medication. And this lifetime of medication really is the smartest idea for most people.
Nevertheless, people constantly feel pressured to stop taking their medications. They’re pressured by antipsychiatry groups, by uninformed people in their lives and by their own internal sense that taking daily medication is just, somehow, “wrong.” So people try to stop their medications even when it isn’t healthy to be doing so.
But Taking Medication Means Choosing to Get Better
But people forget that taking medication isn’t wrong and it isn’t weakness – taking medication is strength. It takes strength to stand up to the pressures of not taking medication. And it takes strength to realize that you have to do what you don’t want to do in an effort to get better, in an effort to be better. It takes strength to choose happiness. It takes strength to choose life.
So if we remember that choosing medication is actually a positive step forward and not just a rule that we much follow, we can be more at peace with our choice. Because it is ours to make. And for my choice, I choose happiness. I choose health. I choose medication.
* Before people jump down my throat, I’ll just say that this doesn’t mean that medication is the only choice or that it’s right for every person. This just means that for those of us who do choose medication, we can view it in a positive light.
Our emotional needs are to be satisfied to lead a healthy life. If any of these emotional needs are thwarted due to adverse environment that will lead to frustration and conflict in the person. That is the major cause of all depression and majority mental disorders. Emotional conflict is a great emotional reality for the experiencing person.n. With the below example which I have taken from one of the books which have inspired me the most I hope that the fact is also clear to all of you who read this. Please go through it
Excerpts from the book “STOP PSYCHIATRIC DAMAGING” by Dr. Joseph Isaac (Clinical psychologist, M.Phil. M.&S.P, NIMHANS) PG 258-261
Let me present before you a case that had come to me a long time back for psychological treatment. A woman in her late thirties developed symptoms of falling down and lying unconscious for longer periods of time mostly in the presence of her husband, expresses tremulousness of the whole body, tension, sleep disturbance in the night, and complaints of vague aches and pains all over the body. She expressed morbid concern about her physical ill health now and then. She was taken to several physicians by her husband for her physical complaints and all doctors told them that there is nothing wrong with her but her complains persisted. As the physicians could not find any physical pathology they advised them to meet a psychiatrist. The psychiatrist who has no degree in psychology prescribed certain tranquilizers and because of these neuro toxic drugs her physical condition became worsened and she has become more and more drowsy and dull and she started complaining more about her physical disability after meeting the psychiatrist. Having found no improvement in her condition, they consulted a neurologist to know whether there is any neurological impairment causing these symptoms. The neurologist also examined her and advised them to consult a clinical psychologist for specialized psychological treatment instead of the psychiatric drugs that can only sedate her and disable her. That is how they came to consult me. In order to probe into the reasons underlying her somatization and conversion symptoms I hypnotized her and made her to talk out her worry that is causing the present symptoms. She was very cooperative to undergo hypnosis and stress revealed is briefly summarized here for your information
The lady is married to an alcoholic who has no permanent job and is highly irresponsible and does not take care of her family and is usually not available in the house for days together and when enquired says he is going out to do some work far away from home and returns once in a while at home. He is known to have extra marital relations with other women which is more upsetting to her. They also had severe economic difficulties at home due to alcoholism of the husband.
All these factors have contributed to the psychological formation of this lady. She was finding it very difficult to manage her family problems especially her husband who is considered to be very cruel and hard minded. She is terribly anxious that he is away from home. Because he won’t listen to any of her demands she is afraid to assert any of her needs to him. Thus her home atmosphere is one characterized by clashes and conflicts. She was suppressing all worries to herself. She deliberately tries to avoid confrontations and conflicts because the moment she thinks of reacting to him she develops increased palpitation and tremulousness. Later she started developing episodes of unconsciousness whenever he came back home. The moment she develops symptoms of unconsciousness the husband gets terribly afraid and changes his nomadic behavior and sits at home for a few days and behave well at home and shows love and affection toward her. He also stops his tendency to go out and stay far away. He also stops his alcohol drinking and womanizing when he understand that his wife is ill which the doctor cannot solve and also goes to the temple and earnestly pray to the gods for salvation thinking that her disease is a punishment for the entire family for the past sins he has committed. He behaves quite appropriately and like an ideal husband and turns his interest to prayer and devotion to god. Once her husband regains a positive personality change the wife sheds out all her symptoms and she is very happy and communicative.
After a few days of renewal and religiosity when he returns to the old style of life characterized by drinking and womanizing she again relapse into the same symptoms. Thus it can be very well explained that her symptoms are a chosen defense to control her non loving cruel husband formed with remote intention of controlling him and is a symbol of communication from her inner mind. See how complex the mind is in stress. I Re-Hypnotized her and gave her a strong post-hypnotic suggestion that she will not stick onto this type of pathological way of controlling her stress and that she will resort to healthier ways of coping strategies in facing her husband. I permitted her to go to deep hypnotic trance and gave her a strong suggestion to change her existing defenses and then she retorted to the therapist with the following question which is still reverberating in the inner depths of my mind “Sir, what you say is true. But if you take away all my existing defenses as you say how will I control my cruel husband who does not take care of my family?” After the hypnosis I discussed the pertinent question she raised in hypnosis and educated her as to how she can better handle him so that she can control this situation without getting hurt and becoming hysterical. She co-operated with me well and was given appropriate assertive strategies to control her husband. Her husband is also treated for his alcoholic behavior and is given scientific method of thought control. Every step had been taken to remove the cause of the stress with empathy and love and that too with genuine co-operation of the husband who co-operated with me wonderfully. The husband was good enough to change his style of life and both of them encouraged to increase their communication between each other. Now the lady is completely asymptomatic and is devoid of all her defensive behavior. Her husband has genuinely realized the worthlessness of his past behavior immersed in voluptuousness.
The above case is narrated here to demonstrate how emotional conflicts leads to psychopathology and result in disordered behavior and how can it can be corrected by resolving the emotional conflict. In the ultimate analysis all mental disorders are unhealthy strategies a person chooses to formulate to deal deal with an intolerable situation that creates conflicts when there emotional needs are frustrated.
I’m late to this party, but needed to share my experience. For a decade after I self diagnosed, got educated and got treated, I believed that meds were the answer and tried countless permutations of the basic cocktail. I only got worse, more aggressive, showed more new symptoms, behaved more erratically and basically made wreckage of my life. I had misgivings by year 7, but a serious injury put that concern on the back burner. Forward through 3 more years of destruction to my friendships, my finances, and nearly my marriage.
My meds made me sicker, lithium-a last ditch effort plunged me into 8 months of untreatable depression and added 40 lbs to my 4′ 11″ frame. With my doctor, I had been eliminating redundant meds already, don’t need topamax on lithium, etc.
Last month I went to my doc and explained what had happened to my life on meds and she agreed with me and is helping me come off of my meds with the understanding that it might not work, and I take some meds. I’m agreeable to that possibility, or also that I might keep taking seroquel because it helps with the PTSD I also have. I just finished my lithium last week and can feel a lift in the depression and feel my personality tricking back every day. I don’t know that this will work, but what I was doing was not working. I feel hopeful about my life for the first time in years.
Thanks for being a voice in the wilderness. I read you every week.
Thankyou for summarizing so succinctly how I feel about medication.
You know I’m a big fan, but I’m actually not a fan of this article. We all know it’s not that simple. You might as well be saying “choose coca cola and choose happiness”, in that it sounds like an advertising slogan.
I like the subheading – choosing medication means choosing to get better – a little better. Closer to reality. Treatment for mental illness, might treat the mental illness, but it will not solve all your problems or directly lead to happiness.
I know, you want to make treatment for mental illness sound like a good option. And yes, it is a good option; an excellent option. Just won’t make you ‘happy’. Finding true happiness is a different journey.
Yes happiness can come from drugs. I would say that some drugs work better than others. Most of the ones that are really good are also illegal and health threatening. The best drugs for depression are the ones that can be taken over the long haul without significant side effects and of course are spawned from a prescription pad. And of course they also consistently make life worth living. The hunt for depression’s silver bullet can be daunting. Don’t give up!
Choosing medication is choosing happiness… seriously? I know MANY who take meds faithfully that are no more happier…
and to limit folks who go off meds to “Nevertheless, people constantly feel pressured to stop taking their medications. They’re pressured by antipsychiatry groups, by uninformed people in their lives and by their own internal sense that taking daily medication is just, somehow, “wrong.” So people try to stop their medications even when it isn’t healthy to be doing so.”…
shows your disconnect with many of your readers
the meds, much of them, are horrendously expensive… even if you have great insurance or financial means at your fingertips… many of them are horrendously expensive and when you are prescribed 4-9 meds (cause some meds are to counteract the side effects of other meds)… your $100 prescription a month, ends up being $700 or more, in some cases… especially if you add in the “medical” meds for the thyroid, diabetes, etc..
this is not to be “anti-med” or “anti-psych”… it’s to be realistic… some folks have to pick and choose which meds they are able to afford to take in the larger scheme of practical everyday life… this doesn’t mean that they are not choosing “happiness”… it means they are trying to get by, month to month… and no, not all the meds out there have a generic equivalent, etc..
seriously, if your child needs X med and it costs X amount and you have 5 meds that cost Y amount and you’ve not got the $ to spread around – with electric, food, mortgage, etc…. guess who goes without Meds or 1 or more meds? Parent.
btw… I’ve chosen to return to Lithium after a 2 year hiatus… so, no one hash on me for being anti-med. There is a place for meds and many with MI do better with meds than without… but life, itself, does not always bode towards your supposed chemical induced happiness… sometimes, some of us are so on the edge that we have to pick and choose…. a roof over our heads or the multitude of meds we are told to take
cause – to me anyway – losing a bed and/or a roof in exchange for a bag of pills from the doc… isn’t much of an exchange, especially when those pills do not offer magical powers of happiness
Simply put, taking my meds has gotten me further along in this this world than I would have ever imagined. I’m 55 years old and before the meds, I never would have believed I’d have a healthy friendship that has lasted almost 17 years now. Without the meds, I would never have been able to complete two years of college, and still want more ! And without meds to keep me calm, and my big mouth shut, I honestly feel that I wouldn’t be around anymore anyway ! I am learning to take everything one day at a time, and right now the meds are important on so many levels that I can’t worry about future repercussions.
It took me over 25 years and yo-yoing with my medications to know they are the best thing for me. I’ve done everything from cold turkey, to trying to wean myself off. when I found myself in fear of losing my mind and never recovering again, I realized that I needed medication and I was OK with that. It works for me and that’s all that matters.
I agree, kind of. I guess I think of choosing medication as choosing to try. Choosing to try to get to happiness, choosing to try to live a balanced life. I say ‘try’ because I’ve yet to find the combination of any medication or therapy that has really led to my happiness. But, I’m trying.
I choose happiness. I choose health. I chose natural things my body was lacking, Not deadly Drugs!!
You can’t cheat your body and win!! You will pay in the end!!
I choose happiness and life also, but I do wonder if all the side effects won’t cause their own serious health problems and premature death. Lithium is a remarkable mood stabilizer, but the weight gain may lead to heart disease and / or diabetes, kidney and liver problems. Still, life IS better at the moment.
Thanks for highlighting the issue of choice. We often get pressure from both sides with extremist views on medication. Each of us has a singular experience of and struggle with mental illness, even if our diagnoses are similar, and it is ultimately up to each of us to decide how best to classify and manage our condition. We get enough judgment from outsiders–we shouldn’t be attacking each other for how we take care of ourselves.
ts the healthiest choice I can make.> start Eating properly> No processed foods > nothing with Gluten>Wheat, Rye, Oats, Millet, Sorghum, including Corn and Rice Taking required amino acids Gaba, Tryptopan, and taurine are an example for sleeping at night. Long tern drug use will only leave Sicker down the road. I know I can just look at what long term drug use and cheating your mind body and soul has done to my family members. I also was a victim of this insane treatment. I have been through it. I am still learning what is killing me 5 years later. Don’t believe me wait 30 years on drugs and starving your Body of what it needs. It doesn’t have to be this way !! Going down this path You Will Pay The Price!!
Sorry I had to correct my errors.
Steve
I hear you Steve. This is how I see it……All things, drugs included, have positive and negative sides that have to be weighed carefully by each of us. My approach is do the best I can to care for my WHOLE self. To do that, I have committed to taking my medication as well as being an active participant in understanding how my meds work. I regularly seek new information about bipolar disorder, medications, mental health, spiritual growth, healthy eating, ways to improve my relationship with others, etc., etc. I have had years of not understanding what was going on with me, to years of being wrongly diagnosed and inappropriately medicated, to years of being properly diagnosed and struggling to find the right mix of meds in the midst of major hormonal changes, and now, to several years of relative balance. The balance I gain from taking my meds and keeping a strong circle of support around me allows me to do the things I need to take care of my WHOLE self. I try to live my life using many and varied approaches while keeping my eyes and heart open.
Thank you for putting a different perspective in my mind. The idea of taking medication is hard to accept but for now I recognize that its the best choice I can make. Its the healthieat choice I can make.