kirk murphy @
169

noen, I believe all who are commenting on this topic are merely joking, and I hope I don’t seem rude…

but I am deeply opposed to any misuse of medical care for harm – even when used againist war criminals like dubya.

I was also merely joking, though I can understand the concern. We are on the same page regarding how to defeat the authoritarians. Though at times I really wonder if it’s possible.

On the other hand, I really would like to see DBT brought to a wider audience. The whole damn country could only benefit. Left or Right, conservative or liberal, I can see only good things from a wider awareness of Marsha Linehan’s work. And just to add to the mix, I would throw in some of William Glasser’s Choice Theory. I found his ideas very helpful in my life and I can only think that others would too.

take care

Agree with you whole-heartedly – except where I’m too ignorant to follow :) I’ll have to ‘lern up on Choice Theory.

Be well – and hope we all can maintain the hope we’ll defeat authoritarian rule.

I take hope from the failure of the Wurlitzer – forty years of massively subsidized PR has wholly failed to debase Americans’ core values.

The PR worked for a time on important but external perceptions of optimal policies (taxes and government = bad), but is losing traction there.

We’ve seen the greatest reach of the authoritarian Wurlitzer – it failed. We’ve yet to see the grreatest intensity – that will comme ovet the next two years.

We are winning, and we shall triumph – our nation is too strong for the authoritarians to subdue.

And I’ve said way too much on this thread.

Be well!

noen, I believe all who are commenting on this topic are merely joking, and I hope I don’t seem rude…

but I am deeply opposed to any misuse of medical care for harm – even when used againist war criminals like dubya.

I was also merely joking, though I can understand the concern. We are on the same page regarding how to defeat the authoritarians. Though at times I really wonder if it’s possible.

On the other hand, I really would like to see DBT brought to a wider audience. The whole damn country could only benefit. Left or Right, conservative or liberal, I can see only good things from a wider awareness of Marsha Linehan’s work. And just to add to the mix, I would throw in some of William Glasser’s Choice Theory. I found his ideas very helpful in my life and I can only think that others would too.

take care

rumi @
171

I seriously think GWB has been a controlled subject all along.

Seriously? I’ve indulged in a conspiracy theory now and then but I usually come back to reality, or an approximation of it. But to seriously believe that GW is drugged and then propped up in front of the cameras is a bit much. Do you have any, you know, actual evidence for that belief? It’s a little out there I think, but who knows?

I don’t think it’s any conspiracy theory at all. He has been kept misinformed, in a bubble of supposedly trusted advisers. He has had uncharacteristic traits/appearances during times of public speaking. Personal accounts that have leaked out relate episodes of extreme behaviors. A history of substance abuse and addiction in a man that now has the ultimate responsibility of millions of lives would require some stabalization.

People get the wrong impression of controlling others’ behavior. It’s not just hitting someone up with drugs and flipping a switch. It’s a long, complicated process of suggestion, denial, deprivation, reward, positive/negative reinforcement and also medications. It was done on a grand scale to the American public.

kirk murphy @ 164

No, he was using them – by his own admission – just to feel good all the time, so he could walk around with a smile every day. I’m all in favor of using them as needed, but this was a whole ‘nother story.

P J Evans @ 155

Slightly OT:
90 % of anti-depressant prescriptions are written by non-psychiatrists.

There was a story up at CNN.com a week or so back about a guy using anti-depressants without being depressed. (He also admitted to using ecstasy once a month.) My first thought was, how do we report his doctor? It’s drug abuse, on the face of it. (Think Limbaugh with antidepressants rather than painkillers.)

Peter Kramer’s book – over a decade old – is a great introduction to one set of perspectives about the use of psychotropic meds to optimize comfort.

What is health? may seem like a trivial question, but many different subjective viewpoints come into conflict when assessing the use of antidepressants as described in the CNN article.

The described use would not constitute “drug abuse” as I understand the term. If adequate risk-benefit physician/patient discussion had gone on, this use would not trouble most of the physicians I know.

Having said that, I am not suggeting the described use is how I would practice. I’ve decided not to use (legal, non-addictive) psychopharm tools to optimize function, as doinng so leaves me outside of “evidence-based medicine”, and I get all cold and lonely there.

On the other hand, some patterns of dysfunction (drunk driving, spousal abuse, child molestation) can go unrecognized for decades or centuries.

If I assume that all pathophysiology is known as 2006, I’m really arrogant (and ignorant of the history of biomedicine). I can’t possibly know of the diagnoses yet un-recognized.

Use of fluoxetine in patients with sexual fetishes for inanimate objects quite accidentally relieved the fetish (sorry Siggy :) – looks like sexual fetishes in these patients were hitherto unrecognized OCD variants..

Without emiprical use of psychotopics, this would never have come to light.

So I want to see the psychotropic tools used safely, but I don’t conclude that emiprical use of non-addictive tools for apparent “enhancement” is a priori malpractice or drug abuse.

(PS – And I’m hoping some econ prof will assign a graduate project following puchases (by male charge card holders) of women’s shoes and undergarments in the decade after use of SSRI’s to relieve fetishes became known.)

I want Jr. fully alert, unmedicated and suffering through every trial he has earned. Full restraints would be appropriate.

I seriously think GWB has been a controlled subject all along.

Seriously? I’ve indulged in a conspiracy theory now and then but I usually come back to reality, or an approximation of it. But to seriously believe that GW is drugged and then propped up in front of the cameras is a bit much. Do you have any, you know, actual evidence for that belief? It’s a little out there I think, but who knows?

Thanks for the clarification and additional info. Thanks too, for your personal code of ethics concerning the situation. I agree completely and I would never advocate the use of that practice for harm but others have and in our name…bastards. I seriously think GWB has been a controlled subject all along.

It’s hard to see the SSRIs being abused for pleasure/recreation. Many times, the cure(side effects) are worse than what’s being treated.