Take 2 Of These And Drool In The Morning

Psychologists and Psychiatrists have always been thought to bring yourself back to "normal", if you will. Psychologists will ask you series of questions to see what your mental ailment is, then give you a long list of psychiatrists that will aid you on your road to recovery, a "middle man" sort of speak. You speak with the psychiatrists once or twice a week, talking about whats wrong with your head, ways to overcome your problems, etc, etc. The psychiatrist reports to the psychologist on your progress or other symptoms that they may have missed. Then the psychologists prescribes the appropriate medication. Continue therapy until all is well again.

Sounds simple and very helpful right?

Wrong.

The only time this is actually effective, is if there is a real "Chemical Imbalance" in the brain. Then the medication is used to correct that imbalance. Other than that, millions of people are diagnosed with bullshit mental disorders, put on ridiculous medication, then evaluated like a lab rat, all because they feel a little unhappy with themselves or they are thinkers, and are misjudged as being ADD.

When my generation was growing up, there were 2 major advancements in mental disorders. They came up with, people that have a hard time concentrating or sitting still (most common in children) had Attention Deficit Disorder, or ADD for short. Seemed very logical, especially with the 2 first words of the disorder, "Attention Deficit".

ADD is real. Some people just cant focus for more than a few seconds without the mind wandering or fidgeting in their seats. The medications for it, like Ritalin, were made to help those that actually couldn't concentrate on a normal level. But since 90% of all kids hate sitting still, ADD was the answer to all the parents prayers. Then almost every kid was "ADD", and was on Ritalin or some variation of.

Ever realize that kids are very fidgety to begin with? Kids don't like to sit still because they want to play, laugh, have fun. Not sit and listen to a teacher talk about liquid, solid and vapor are the 3 forms of water. Booooorrrriiiinnngggg stuff to an elementary student. Now little Johnny is a drooling fool in the corner of the class room, hopped up on Ritalin.

Parents never noticed the difference. All they would have to do, is watch their child play. If a kid plays with legos for hours on end, that doesn't show a sign of "Attention Deficit". Plays video games for long periods of time. Plays with other kids, doing make believe scenes. Hmm, maybe they weren't ADD. Maybe they were just a regular KID.

And today's remedy for ADD in adults is Zoloft. The miracle drug, which is just Ritalin but stronger, makes adults concentrate better so they can work more effectively. Also is used to battle depression. If it's not an actual chemical imbalance, all you are doing is pumping medication into a body that doesn't need it. Now you have a person walking around that was just depressed about bills, to being carefree and annoying.

The other breakthrough was that, "The reason you act out in school or at home was because your mother or father was always working or not around. No stable motherly or fatherly figure in your household." Typical response to this was, "So that's why Billy always tortured cats! His mother was at work! Thank you so much Doc! I can pick up the Ritalin prescription at the receptions window on the way out, right?"

This scenario, can better be told by Doug Stanhope. He is a stand up comedian that has a lot of good points on a lot of different subjects. At the 1:46 mark, is where this scenario takes place.



Maybe your kid was experimenting? Or is naturally just an evil little shit head? I can understand relationship issues later on, sure. Mother left the family when you were young and now you have a hard time trusting women. Or your dad left, and you can't trust guys. That's totally right. But to try and say that everything we do in our lives is a direct result of a dysfunctional family or a perfect family that believed in corporal punishment, is ludicrous.

I have an occasional anger problem, very mild and very rare, but if something gets to me so much that I punch a wall or a pillow (never a person, unless its that person that pissed me off and they deserve it), it has nothing to do with how my mom raised me. I came from a functional family. It was just me and my mom. My father left before I was born, so it wasn't like I was traumatized by him leaving. So it wasn't dysfunctional. I got the occasional spankings, but there was never violence in the home, no screaming, no nothing. So to say my anger comes from my adolescent years is bullshit. Same for millions of other people that have been told that something in their childhood home life, caused them to have certain outbursts.


Now lets progress into present day. Now the new "answer" is Bipolar Disorder, or otherwise known as, Manic Depressive. This disorder has been around a while, but has recently become very popular. And again, there are real cases of this disorder, more common in adults. This disorder effects the persons ability to control emotions. One minute they are happy, the next angry, the next sad, then they cry, then they are happy again. In most cases, a person has more problems with "highs" and "lows". Being on the "high" (manic) side, gives you an endless supply of energy, and nothing really bothers you all that much. The "low" side is no energy and depressed. The brain just cant find the middle, and will switch back and forth rapidly or slowly. Some people remain manic for days at a time, then their brain will switch to the low side for a few days. Some cases even weeks.

So now, anyone that has a mood swing is bipolar. Just as it was with ADD, bipolar is the reason for your qwerks. What was once just for adults that couldn't keep control on their emotions, turned into every adult that had a mood swing. Then it branched into the children. While some kids are bipolar, the vast majority are not. But the psychologists and psychiatrists think differently.

The medications for bipolar can leave you in a state of zombie. Mostly sedatives that make you a drooling fool. "Normal" is what the doctors call it. They figure if you don't have excessive energy, and are too sedated to be depressed, you are cured. So long as you stay on the medication. Once people realized they were living the life of a zombie, the doctors started prescribing mood stabilizers. Lithium, for example. Lithium counteracts the manic and depression bouts. But the side effects on it are very staggering. Common side effects of lithium treatment include muscle tremors, twitching, ataxia, hyperparathyroidism, bone loss, hypercalcemia, hypertension, kidney damage, nephrogenic diabetes insipidus (polyuria and polydipsia), arrhythmias, muscle weakness, tremor, lethargy, cognitive blunting, headaches, and seizures. Not a very healthy alternative. So doctors prescribe dozens of other medications to counteract those side effects. Depakote, Neurontin, Abilify and Seroquel are the most common.

So now you are taking 10 pills 3 times a day for the rest of your life. That's not fair to a child that was misdiagnosed because he had a mood swing, or is going through their junior high depression. Or to an adult that was misdiagnosed. Most kids go through a bout of depression during junior high. Small portions of the real world mixed with the stress of "fitting in" causes tremendous grief on a kid. So yeah, they are going to get depressed for a while. That doesn't mean make them drool like an idiot and take a ton of pills to correct it.

So from the examples I have given, it's easily understandable that maybe these psychologists and psychiatrists are using these disorders for profitable gains. Instead of treating just those that are chemically imbalanced, they treat everyone that comes in their offices like they do. Even I was diagnosed with a chemical imbalance. I was never given an MRI or a blood test or anything. They just instantly assumed I had the imbalance. How scientifically sound is that? So a psychologist got paid very nicely by my mother for a chemical imbalance he assumed I had, and the psychiatrist made out like a bandit too. Not too mention the drug companies that make mass money on the deals with these doctors offices for them to distribute them.

Time to wake up and realize that we are normal people with depression, or just cant concentrate because the stuff we are doing is too boring. Don't be a sucker for these diagnoses right away. Make sure that you are properly tested for Bipolar Disorder and ADD.