You are correct Michael. Antidepressants don’t seem to work better than placebo and yes it is immoral for psychiatrists to be prescribing antidepressants without enrolling the client in CBT (cognitive behavioural therapy). The medical model DOES NOT fit very well with mental disorders. A mental disorder is a bit like a peg leg, you can pretend you don’t have a peg leg and take a bunch of valium to ignore the fact you have a peg leg but ultimately the best treatment for having a peg leg or a mental disorder is education and fancy this, teaching the client rationality techniques… Another big quam I have is how heavily valium is prescribed to people with anxiety disorders. The side effects of taking anti-d’s which do not work or prescribing valium to an anxiety client includes death among other things. If the anti-d’s do not work or the person with anxiety cannot control their own disorder without an anxiolytic the risk of something horrible happening is far higher. There is a problem here.
ps- yes I have done my research and am qualified to give my 2c worth (it is annoying you have to make these disclaimers on LW as this website seems to have spiralled in to the pits of navel gazing lately, i digress...)
You are correct Michael. Antidepressants don’t seem to work better than placebo and yes it is immoral for psychiatrists to be prescribing antidepressants without enrolling the client in CBT (cognitive behavioural therapy). The medical model DOES NOT fit very well with mental disorders. A mental disorder is a bit like a peg leg, you can pretend you don’t have a peg leg and take a bunch of valium to ignore the fact you have a peg leg but ultimately the best treatment for having a peg leg or a mental disorder is education and fancy this, teaching the client rationality techniques… Another big quam I have is how heavily valium is prescribed to people with anxiety disorders. The side effects of taking anti-d’s which do not work or prescribing valium to an anxiety client includes death among other things. If the anti-d’s do not work or the person with anxiety cannot control their own disorder without an anxiolytic the risk of something horrible happening is far higher. There is a problem here.
ps- yes I have done my research and am qualified to give my 2c worth (it is annoying you have to make these disclaimers on LW as this website seems to have spiralled in to the pits of navel gazing lately, i digress...)