When you can't form your own opinions?

Question

Hi. I find it very difficult to form my own opinions about things. Say the use of anti-depressants for anxiety: Some say it is a God bless and others that it's all fake... Some say many, many people are being helped-and it is unrespectful to even question this, and others are totaly anti-psychiatry and think the profession should be baned.

And this is just one example.where there are extreme opinions and emotions about certain subjects. I find it hard to deal with things like this... I find it hard to decide things myself and to deal with it when others seem angry about my opinion.

How can I start forming opinions? How can I become confident about what I believe and still be open to other opinions?

Answer 1

The answer is not easy: learn enough facts to develop an informed opinion. If the topic is whether or not a medication will help you, talk to professionals, one on one, about your own condition. See what the treatment success rates really are. Read the literature, not just the anecdotes. People have a tendency to over-react to things out of fear and ignorance. There is an anti-scientific trend that is full of disinformation.

Every incidence will have anecdotal case studies where th treatment did not work. But, ask yourself, how much of this "failure" may have been due to the person's own belief system? When it comes to mental illness, there are so many myths circulating that it is hard to know who is telling you the truth. I can tell you from my own work with animal health that, without a doubt, it is possible for new neural pathways to be laid down in an adult brain, contrary to popular belief that, once set, always so. I had a good friend who focused her life around the fact that she was once (I suspect incorrectly) diagnosed as a teenager as manic depressive. Her take? I can't exert myself, because I'm manic depressive. I need someone to take care of me, because I am manic depressive. I can't exercise to lose weight that is distressing me, because I am manic depressive. Here is a girl who made her symptoms a scapegoat for sheer laziness. Was there somethign deeper? Perhaps. But she refused to believe that her life could ever change, even when confronted with the evidence, even when encouraged to do things to improve her self-esteem and sense of pride. She relied on medication to "be the cure", and since it wasn't an immediate fix, she assumed nothing could be done.

At the other end of the spectrum, I have known trauma survivors who used a regimen that included anti-anxiety medicines to recover completely from their ordeals. They went into it with the undertsanding that medication is not a cure, but is a reprieve from qverwhelming feelings. Feelings are perhaps the most important thing in life, but when they control a person's thoughts, actions, and decisions, a break is needed to shift thinking back to a more balanced state. People who successfully overcome anxiety are open to the hard work of meditation, reflection, self-awareness, forgiveness (self and others), and, most importantly, owning their emotions and taking responsibility for them. Sometimes, medication takes the edge off enough so the person can face these things objectively enough to work through them. For toehrs, there is such a deficiency that medication may be required to maintain a state of equilibrium. It should not be a stigma, and it should not "erase personality" as someone else described. If it is, the dose and/or type is wrong. There is still a lot to be learned, but above all, learning as much as you can about whatever the disorder (or anything else) really is, from people who study it, live it, and explain it, is always the best approach. If you have been diagnosed with anxiety, first learn everything you can about anxiety. Pick up magazines, journals, books, and on-line articles, and start reading. Talk to someone about it objectively, and try not to create a knee-jerk, "it can't be true of me" type reaction. We live in a society that makes us prone to anxiety. As you read, you will find, above all, that the key to overcoming anxiety is using whatever tools are in yuor arsenal to reclaim your sense of place, importance, and time.

Answer 2

The answer to that is simple darling....

Stop caring what other people think and do what is best for you and yours.

You are born alone and you die alone. Get the picture?

I have been against medication for a long time because I worked in that field and I have seen what it does to people first hand. More TO people than what it has done FOR them...

Nothing is worse than having a person who is a little odd or having some emotional problems, maybe a little difficult to deal with, walk into your office one day and have some problems but still be bright and articulate... then a month after starting on an antypsychotic, they walk in a zombie with no personality what so ever... Heavily medicated and having gained 20 lbs, so that they are easier to handle. That... I don't agree with...

Some people need medications because they wont respond to anything else. Some people have a predisposed need to have something outside themselves heal them... and nothing but a pill will ever make sense to them.

Some people are over medicated and some are under medicated and it is staged and controled by people who are hit and miss in getting it right for them. They should honestly handle things better than they so...

I believe that people have what it takes to heal themselves and many are never given that chance because it is never presented to them as an option. They are just told "Be good, shut up and take this twice a day until it stops working and then I'll find you something else." That is simply not good enough!

Most people are not familiar with drugs or even their own conditions and I feel that a physician should at least make an honest attempt at trying to help them without drugs first...

Then if they respond to no other way, then educate them properly on their condition, teach them about the medications and don't leave it up to the fact that a patient trust's their judgement so much so that they may agree to do something that they do not fully understand. Like for instance, the long term effects of these medications and the fact that they will always have to be uncomfortable, go through changed med's and adjusted doses... sometimes for life, when no other option is presented to them...

That is the problem I have with psychiatry.

and I have a problem with Family practitioners, Emergency room doctors and general practitioners handing out psych meds when they have not first discussed it or evaluated the patient on a personal enough level to help them. A pill is not always the answer. But sometimes it is the only answer... I do not think that a few hours in an ER is long enough to start someone on what could very well become a life long process.

and I believe that is where many of the problems start. Leave the psych meds up to the psychiatrist's!

There are opinions and then there is what is right and wrong.

I have spelled out the differences for you. Opinions matter little when weighed against the facts. Especially when it comes to a science that even they consider to be imperfect and hit and miss. Most of these medications are legally advertised as "It is not certain how this works." because truth be told... They don't know... Until they actually give it to you and find out.

Understand?

Answer 3

There is a Bush Flower Essence called Cerato that is perfect for what you described.

I think you will find that you will start forming opinions when you discover things that are really important to you. Otherwise, don't stress, it just means that your ego isn't so overbearing that it always needs to be right or have an opinion. It is not a bad thing!

Answer 4

You have opinions! Just saying that you can't form opinions, is an opinion in itself! Don't let your shortcomings result from a fear of trying. And remember: no opinion is "right." All you have to do is believe from your heart and you can't go wrong!

Hang in there! :)

Jake

Answer 5

You are wrong for the most part as many Conservatives have already broken ranks with the current administration over this immigration issue Including Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity and many more. And even though the RNC is asking them to shut up about it they are refusing to do so. El Bush is down to a 45% approval rating among Conservatives within his own party, so there is your answer. There are of course myrmidons on both sides that support their "leaders" no matter what they do for what they believe is the greater good. But these ego centric politicians need to be sent message every now and then to remind them that they are supposed to be representatives and not leaders. So if that means breaking ranks then that is what needs to be done and that applies to both parties. If you want to be the kind of person that needs leadership then freedom is not for you.

Answer 6

Everyone has an opinion. You need to learn not to take it personally. No one is right and no one is wrong. If antidepressants are helping you, great. But really.....it's not something you need to tell everyone. That's one reason you get so much flack about it. It's no ones business but yours. It's just not something that everyone needs to know.

Answer 7

Tough question. If there are only 2 opinions, choose the one that is most attractive to you. Include cost and effort in your decision. If you are a cheap skate or a lazy bones or even a procrastinator like me include all of these factors in your decision. If there are many opinions, bring in all the factors and go with your gut feeling. People who are trying to influence your decision probably have a vested interest in their opinion.