Judi:
I know a little bit about the "black dog" of clinical depression, of which you speak,
and about
the prozac/post prozac SSRIs, yet I still question your enthusiasm ["godsend"] for
their
availability and pervasiveness. Pharmaceutical management in a society that gives
shortshrift
to community connectedness and compassion seems like a displacement of the problem to
me. I
observe your medical background [RN]. Am I correct in inferring your embrace of the
medical
model and the unholy corporate alliance [IMHO] between medicine and the pharmaceutical
companies, in preference to alternative therapies? As a practitioner, I am wondering
if you
would care to comment upon the recent resurgence of using electrotherapy to treat
clincical
depression? Secondly, can you offer an opinion on the viewpoint that drug therapies
may be
seen to be more cost effective, to cost-cutting governments, rather than the more
costly,
labour intensive, talk therapies, or, ideally, as suggested by most psychiatrists,
combination
of the two?
Incidentally, I did check in on a message board relating to one of the post-prozac
drugs
[Celexa], and I did not get the impression that most of the folks who were posting
there shared
your enthusiasm for the drugs, as users. Comments identified complaints such as sexual
dysfunction, zombie-like behaviour, lack of motivation, anxiety, headaches, as common
side-effects leading to refusal of the drug. One poster said they would only continue
to use
the drug because their physician said he/she would not continue to treat them if they
did not
take their meds. They also said they were being strongarmed by an insurance company
to take
the anti-depressant. I also noticed that one regular poster was a doctor who seemed
to be
acting as a foil, for the naysayers, on behalf of the drug company, including losing
his temper
when challenged by someone knowledgeable about alternative therapies.
Depression is something I have thought a great deal about, and observed firsthand, but
I still
harbour reservations about the direction in which medical "science" is going, in
response to a
clinical problem which is on the increase.
Regards,
Bob Bowd
Judi Kessler wrote:
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> As someone who works with clinically depressed individuals, I take offense
> at your post below. The SSRIs (Prozac and Prozac-like drugs) are a
> God-send for many folks with major depression. Clearly you have not had
> the experience of interacting with a family member, friend, or patient
> living the hell of major depression.
>
> *************************************
> Judi A. Kessler RN, PhD
> Center for U.S.-Mexican Studies
> University of California, San Diego
> 9500 Gilman Drive, Dept. 0510
> La Jolla, CA 92093-0510 USA
> (858) 534-4147 or (858) 534-4503
> *************************************
>
> On Mon, 21 Aug 2000, J. Walter Plinge wrote:
>
> > News Update
> > The Wide Wide World O Prozac
> >
> > Dear Diary, 8/11/00
> > The BBC Radio's World Buiness Report told the , ahhh� World, today about how Prozac
> > is about to lose its patent protection and a mass of cheap generics will soon be
> > let loose on an unsuspecting world. It's is a topic worth pondering. Could it
> > be, wondered the
> > announcer to a cohort at Lehman Brothers, that Prozac is actually a major player
> > in this so called endless economic boom the US has been claiming since, what�
> > 1912? (Yeah;
> > 1929 was just a market adjustment.)
> >
> > The Lehman Sister, not brother, as claimed, on the other end of the line was
> > stoned enough
> > to maintain a semblance of lucidity but obviously not so stoned that she would
> > agree to
> > such a logical observation. "People don't take Prozac to become overly happy,"
> > she said,
> > "they take it so they can continue to function normally."
> >
> > Of course. That's just the point, isn't it? The GM people, asked to fire 10,000
>people
> > including themselves might have become an unruly mob if not for legal chemicals.
> > The Bell
> > Tel people who were asked to ax 40,000 jobs might have had a use for a legal
> > chemical that
> > would allow them to continue their sado-masochistic activities while seeming to
>"function
> > normally." Can it be coincidental that the star of Prozac was ascending at the
> > same time as
> > the star of "structural adjustment programs" at the IMF? Our Lehman Sister
> > disagreed; she
> > appeared to be functioning normally.
> >
> > Makes you wonder though, doesn't it? Was Maggie Thatcher on drugs when she
>proclaimed
> > Pinochet was "Brittain's Friend?" Or is she that way normally? And what about
> > Pinochet? If
> > Prozac was available for distribution in 1973 could he not have pushed the
> > slaughter rate
> > from the low thousands into the low millions? If Proazac was available then,
> > would we not
> > have a Pinochet Day in the US, just like Christmes? Oh, the missed opportunities!
> >
> > We have already seen in the 60s what people on LSD, mushrooms and pot do. They
> > take to the
> > streets and stop wars. They kick dictators out of office. So what can we expect
> > when the
> > price of Prozac drops from $1 to 10� a hit? If Nike workers can afford Prozac
> > will they ask
> > for a wage cut? Will China and India open their currency to the Wall Street
> > Casino? Will the
> > Brazilians start giving away the last of their trees just to get rid of them? My
> > guess is:
> > YES INDEED!
> >
> > I think the economic boom is just starting. I think we are going to see
> > legislation in a
> > coupla years that will put Prozac into the drinking water of "chronicly
> > depressed" nations.
> > I think that the human central nervous system is mis-wired and there is a CURE
> > at hand. The
> > financial collapse of 2001 is just going to be a minor adjustment.
> >
> > Happy Dreams and take your medication,
> > JWP
> >
> >
