My issue with the use of drugs in resolving issues is the inherent individualism present in the system. No one is considered to be rightly depressed, regardless of the situations they live in. No one believes in righteous anger, or that there is a reason they feel so badly all the time, or when there is a “reason”, it’s always the persons fault. It’s never “you live in a society that restricts nearly all possibilities of human existence from you except for selling your labor to capitalists, of course you feel disempowered and alienated.” It’s “you have a chemical imbalance, better give you drugs”. Where did that chemical imbalance come from? For some people it’s a consequence of their genetics, sure, but for many people it’s a consequence of societal structures imposing violence upon entire groups of people.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy is better than drugs at reducing depression symptoms, and ending capitalism would be even more effective as long as it was replaced with a system that didn’t further alienate people.
First, only some people are, and I believe doctors shouldn’t be saying those things without education around what is happening. Insurance companies might be saying it 100%, which is a problem.
Second, we have to come to the agreement that mental states are the result of biological processes. If you don’t believe that mental states are a result of your brain processing things the this discussion won’t go anywhere.
Drugs are prescribed because doctors believe the brains biological process produces those emotional states. It is typically believed that those drugs moderate/modulate those biologic processes.
The sources of the damages to the biological structure of the brain that results in these states is unfortunately irrelevant in this conception.
I agree with you that CBT is best at long term management for most people because of brain plasticity. I also think it is important that people in crisis receive immediate assistance, which is usually pharmaceutical. Unfortunately American health care insurance system doesn’t believe in preventive medicine in this case and most people can only receive crisis care. This is a shitty situation in America specifically. Additionally, other countries are not supportive of therapy in general which is also a problem.
Very reasonable perspective, I appreciate you taking the time to type it out.
You’re right that most people only have access to crisis care here, which means they more often end up having pharmaceutical solutions as they are fast acting.
Biological processes definitely do influence mental states, and has been shown as such repeatedly. However, it has been known just as long that material reality influences mental states also. It is not an imbalance for someone to be depressed when they live in a cockroach infested hellhole while working 60+ hours a week and barely breaking even. It’s an expected reaction to such conditions, and while drugs will work to continue to allow that person to function in such a situation, it will do nothing about the underlying reality that is creating their feelings of depression.
So while, in the short term, drugs can be extremely necessary in ensuring the depression or other issues do not get worse, what is truly needed is a radical re-framing of society that focuses on eradicating situations and conditions that lead to despair, depression, alienation, and other materially-influenced mental states.
There are of course, individuals for who there is genuinely an imbalance that merely correcting the systemic issues would not resolve, and for those individuals such medications can be the difference between a functional life and not. I do not mean to negate those peoples experiences, and I can see how my comment could have done so, which was not my intention. I just don’t believe that everyone, or even a majority, of people experiencing mental health issues are themselves to blame for their illness.
Rather, mental illnesses are often, like many other things, the result of traumas received from society at large, and that, even were we to have literally the best mental health system we could possibly have, we would still be exposing countless individuals to future harm by neglecting the inherent systemic nature of certain illnesses like depression and alienation.
My issue with the use of drugs in resolving issues is the inherent individualism present in the system. No one is considered to be rightly depressed, regardless of the situations they live in. No one believes in righteous anger, or that there is a reason they feel so badly all the time, or when there is a “reason”, it’s always the persons fault. It’s never “you live in a society that restricts nearly all possibilities of human existence from you except for selling your labor to capitalists, of course you feel disempowered and alienated.” It’s “you have a chemical imbalance, better give you drugs”. Where did that chemical imbalance come from? For some people it’s a consequence of their genetics, sure, but for many people it’s a consequence of societal structures imposing violence upon entire groups of people.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy is better than drugs at reducing depression symptoms, and ending capitalism would be even more effective as long as it was replaced with a system that didn’t further alienate people.
Wow. There is a lot to unpack here…
First, only some people are, and I believe doctors shouldn’t be saying those things without education around what is happening. Insurance companies might be saying it 100%, which is a problem.
Second, we have to come to the agreement that mental states are the result of biological processes. If you don’t believe that mental states are a result of your brain processing things the this discussion won’t go anywhere.
Drugs are prescribed because doctors believe the brains biological process produces those emotional states. It is typically believed that those drugs moderate/modulate those biologic processes.
The sources of the damages to the biological structure of the brain that results in these states is unfortunately irrelevant in this conception.
I agree with you that CBT is best at long term management for most people because of brain plasticity. I also think it is important that people in crisis receive immediate assistance, which is usually pharmaceutical. Unfortunately American health care insurance system doesn’t believe in preventive medicine in this case and most people can only receive crisis care. This is a shitty situation in America specifically. Additionally, other countries are not supportive of therapy in general which is also a problem.
Very reasonable perspective, I appreciate you taking the time to type it out.
You’re right that most people only have access to crisis care here, which means they more often end up having pharmaceutical solutions as they are fast acting.
Biological processes definitely do influence mental states, and has been shown as such repeatedly. However, it has been known just as long that material reality influences mental states also. It is not an imbalance for someone to be depressed when they live in a cockroach infested hellhole while working 60+ hours a week and barely breaking even. It’s an expected reaction to such conditions, and while drugs will work to continue to allow that person to function in such a situation, it will do nothing about the underlying reality that is creating their feelings of depression.
So while, in the short term, drugs can be extremely necessary in ensuring the depression or other issues do not get worse, what is truly needed is a radical re-framing of society that focuses on eradicating situations and conditions that lead to despair, depression, alienation, and other materially-influenced mental states.
There are of course, individuals for who there is genuinely an imbalance that merely correcting the systemic issues would not resolve, and for those individuals such medications can be the difference between a functional life and not. I do not mean to negate those peoples experiences, and I can see how my comment could have done so, which was not my intention. I just don’t believe that everyone, or even a majority, of people experiencing mental health issues are themselves to blame for their illness.
Rather, mental illnesses are often, like many other things, the result of traumas received from society at large, and that, even were we to have literally the best mental health system we could possibly have, we would still be exposing countless individuals to future harm by neglecting the inherent systemic nature of certain illnesses like depression and alienation.