Is psychiatry at odds with religion?
I will first state my story:
I went to my psychiatrist upon fear that I was depressed.
However, this was not the case after a series of interviews.
I told them about how I was having mood swings due to seeing people in distress.
They decided to prescribe me some mood stabilizers and anti psychotic drugs to help.
However, this only seemed to mask the symptoms and basically I wasn’t thinking about other people and if they were sad. I just forgot about helping people.
I then decided these drugs are doing something strange to me.
I went to my local church leader and he stated that it was ridiculous that I was treating such symptoms with psychiatric drugs and he asked me why they prescribed them.
I didn’t know why either, I guess I just wished to escape.
However, it didn’t help me escape, it only masked how I appeared to the rest of the world.
Since then my local church leader has organized some volunteer work for me; The symptoms miraculously disappeared.
So why does psychiatry still think they should target the symptom and not the cause?
My fear is that if everyone was to just take psychiatric drugs in the future.
The whole equity side of the legal system would become corrupted.
We would no longer be able to sympathize and empathize.
o_O I’m not sure they made a mistake. According to the information provided to me. These feelings form part of a bigger picture called psychosis…
I didn’t associate the feelings with any religious value at the time I was diagnosed, so this may have also influenced their decision…
I told them how I didn’t like how people were losing their jobs and that the unions were fighting hard for people’s rights.
The problem was they thought I had an issue emotionally… When I look back at it, my psychiatrist was very hypocritical stating that I had a problem and that the unionists didn’t, even though I was feeling the same way the unionists did….
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June 28th, 2010 at 3:28 pm
Just because your psychiatrist made a mistake does not make psychiatry wrong, nor at odds with religion.
I have sought professional help several times in my life, and only once were drugs given to me. The rest of the time I simply spent some time in therapy identifying and working through my problems.
The one time I was given drugs the doctor believed something was actually going wrong in my brain: hence the drugs. (Therapy was also involved) From my perspective, it was the right call. And once I had stabilized, they slowly lowered my doses until I was off of them again.
Psychiatry DOES aim to target the cause. However, the understanding of the human brain is in its infancy, so there’s a lot of trial and error.
June 28th, 2010 at 3:28 pm
Your obviously seeing the wrong psychiatrist!
June 28th, 2010 at 3:28 pm
It is because the thoughts of the medical profession naturally fall to medicine in every circumstance where medicine might provide the answer. In your case it seems the answer might lie elsewhere.
I doubt if medics are the only profession where minds unconsciously become set in a rut.
June 28th, 2010 at 3:28 pm
It’s not that they think they should target the symptom instead of the cause, but rather that, due to the extreme complexity of the human psyche, it is mostly impossible with our current knowledge to treat the cause. Psychiatry, despite how well organized it is, is still in it’s infancy compared to other fields of study.
June 28th, 2010 at 3:28 pm
I agree with Spaz-Tic76. When I was immensely depressed I had counselling. I was on anti-depressants, but my GP and psychologist both informed me that the goal is only to help me get to a point where I don’t need them. They put me through Cognitive Behaviour Therapy, which helped me figure out how to get to the root of my problems and deal with them.
It’s good that you’re helping people. If you have any kind of relapse, don’t be afraid to seek professional help, and don’t be afraid to let them know that you want to deal with your problems without drugs if that’s what you want.
June 28th, 2010 at 3:28 pm
Some issues in life get turned into pathologies by psychiatry. Its normal to be depressed for a time about losing a job or loved one. Not living out your potential can lead to ’soul sickness’.
However, the solution here is responsible action plus inspiration instead of medicating an existential issue. Drugs do not deal with problems of meaning and fulfilment. This is where spirituality [better than religion] provides a balanced way forward.