Now let me start out by saying I began going to a therapist and psychiatrist about 6 months ago. I was just out of college and didn't have a job. The situation made me feel depressed and anxious. Not surprisingly, they said I have depression/anxiety. However, talking to my therapist and the medications prescribed by the psychiatrist never made me feel noticably better. I do feel better now because I was offered a great job. But I'm having serious doubts about the effectiveness of the psychs at least for me.
Here are some interesting facts: There is no objective medical test to determine if someone has a mental illness, no blood test, no x-ray test, just talking. It's highly subjective. Next, psychiatric diagnoses are taken from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Illnesses (DSM) whose criteria are vague. They are in fact arrived to by consensus so coming up with mental illnesses is a virtual parlor game of naming "symptoms" and voting them "diseases."
2006-06-26 15:52:53 · 10 answers · asked by Anonymous in Health ➔ Mental Health
Check out these sites if you're interested in the critical view of psychiatry
http://www.szasz.com
http://www.cchr.org
http://www.mindfreedom.org
2006-06-26 15:53:57 · update #1
people who are more receptive to a therapist will be helped i am not one of those people i can talk to someone all i want but the choice to make changes had to be mine and i knew that
as for the medicine it made me feel dead inside limiting someones emotions with pharmaceuticals is unnatural and messes with a person they made me worse and even worse when i stopped taking them. i think no medicine for the most part is the best thing
2006-06-26 15:59:27 · answer #1 · answered by pchardbooter 3 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Depression in itself is vague. What you had seems to be the blues more than depression. Your idea of going to see a psychiatrist/psychologist probably came about as a result of feeling helpless.
Alot of emphasis these days is being placed around making people with the slightest problems go see a mental health specialist and the specialists' need to find a solution makes them prescribe medications, offer help, etc.
There are though, people with problems that require immediate attention and intervention of a mental health specialist to sway them away from harming themselves and/or others. In that sense, psychiatry and psychology offer immense help to the individual and society as a whole.
But you are absolutely right in your assessment that the guideliness by which psychiatrists diagnose patients (most psychologists don't believe in a diagnosis) are vague at best. So when a person presents himself with the blues, an incompetent doctor could well prescribe him a set of medications in a desperate attempt to help them even though they do not need any help but time. This in turn would lead to a worsening of symptoms and much more serious interventions, which could have easily been avoided by a small pep talk.
2006-06-26 16:04:31 · answer #2 · answered by Winner! 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Yes I agree that the tests need to improve as far as objective medical tests for major depressive disorder. However, chances are pretty good that you feel pretty lousy if you answer yes to most of the depression questions given by therapists. A self assesment is a good one because no one knows how you feel but you. Major life changes can also lead to depressive episodes and another test is usually given (by a good psy) to see how many major life changes have happened in the last 6 months to a year. The therapist can then determine if it is a one time thing due to life change or if it an internal thing due to a chemical or hormonal inbalance.
2006-06-26 16:06:21 · answer #3 · answered by Elly N 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
They definately work. I've been seeing both a psychiatrist and psychologist since 1992 and it definately works. Why am I not done? Because I'll never BE cured, I have an illness that isn't curable. However, just talking and working through your problems often makes you relive terrible moments that often happened to you as a 4 or 5 year old child, before you had the ability to self-realize that you were 'safe' in some ways and not in others. So just talking to my psychiatrist/psychologist often makes things "worse" for a while, but you have to work through your problems to get better. Reliving them and allowing the scars to heal properly are paramount.
2006-06-26 16:02:36 · answer #4 · answered by AdamKadmon 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I think its pointless. They do nothing really other than listen to you and point you in the right dirrection of what you really want to do. Can't people do this themselves? I think people need to believe in themselves more and realize that they are able to help themselves. People should not rely on other people. And if you have to use your friends, don't pay someone to do something your good friends should be helping you with anyways.
I know how you must have felt, I have worked since I was 14 and got laid off for only a couple of months while I finished school - so it should have been a good thing. But it was horrible, I felt like I wasn't a contributing member of society. I took a job to work and wish I would have just kept looking and enjoying my vacation! dang it!
2006-06-27 15:57:24 · answer #5 · answered by Misch 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It all depends on the individual mental problems involved. I have been diagnosed as severe depression by many psychiatrists and was given anti depressants........ they never really helped me! I finally spoke with an older one and she said that what it sounded like was that I am bi-polar........ I moved and had to find a new one...... who now says that I am not bi polar!!!! however the meds I was put on by the last doctor works for my symptoms and I am much more mellow than I was before!!! The new one insists that bi polar is manic/depressive and wants to know what kind of manic syptoms I have??? But in reality my "highs" are my racing thoughts. So I really believe that you have to search and search until you find one that listens to what you are really saying and puts all the symptoms together!!!!!
2006-06-26 16:04:40 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
The reason there are no tests, is because the problem is in the mind and the way people communicate what is on there mind is by talking. Of course if your problem is a chemical imbalance they may be able to develope tests for that.
2006-06-26 16:08:22 · answer #7 · answered by Jason 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
my psychiatrist helped me when i was depressed , so she put me on medicine wich works for me!
2006-06-26 16:16:36 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
No, absolutely not.
http://www.sntp.net/
2006-06-26 15:59:55 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
I don't believe in shrinks
2006-06-26 15:55:44 · answer #10 · answered by cutiepie81289 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋