I'm Over Medicated Society...!

I was just reading through the thread about Japanese scientists discovering that lithium in water curbs suicidal tendancies and it got me thinking about the nature of medication to control psychological “issues.” I have friends who have taken such medications in their lifetimes, though I for one never have, but none the less, I come out in a gray, perhaps even philosophical area on the subject…what I want to address is not the “right/wrong” issue of medication, but the cultural affect.

Having a meager understanding of psychology from university studies, I come out on the side of behavioral and physiological psychology more so than any other side of it…I’m especially against medication unless absolutely necessary.

Anyway, so this article/thread got me thinking about the nature of the psychology industry…or our perception of it.

We have medications for everything. If you’re anxious, here’s a pill. If you’re not anxious enough, here’s a pill. If you are psychotic, neurotic, lethargic, here’s a pill. If you can’t sleep, here’s a pill. If you can’t get up in the morning, here’s a pill.

America in particular is one of the most medicated nations in the world…but none the less, I digress. I often wonder, what is wrong? Is it us? Is it people? Is it our inability to cope with difficult situations that create these issues that we medicate away? They didn’t have the vast majority of these medicines at the turn of the 20th century, but people got along with life. Is life so difficult now? It can’t be, because life is easier now than it has ever been in all of history…and yet, if this is so, why do so many people have so much trouble coping with it?

Is there something in the water? That is metaphorically speaking, because we know there literally is…Some conspiracy theorists will go on about the fluoride in the water affecting us psychologically…heck, Nine Inch Nail’s album “Yearzero” was all about a future where society has been drugged into complete apathy and obedience, to the point where those that refused to take the drugs were considered terrorists.(The absolutely best NIN Album, in my opinion.) But I’m not just talking about the literal water here, I’m talking about the fluid of our civilization…we have an epidemic of depression and anxiety that seems to only get worse as time progresses…

Is this because there is something innately wrong with society?
OR
Is this because we, people, have grown emotionally/psychologically weak?

OR

Is it a case of Nurture and Nature where both are the case…there is something wrong with our society AND we have grown emotionally/psychologically weak…

I for one would vote for the last…and, unfortunately, judging from the current generation of children…I think it is only going to get worse…

Taking medication for "little things" is nothing new....remember the Rolling Stones song "Mother's Little Helper" ---or maybe that wasn't the name of the song, but they said it alot it that song...

ANYWAY....I think WE, as people in industrialized society are just having a harder time dealing with other people, so for the oppressed women that took tranquilizers or whatever from the 50's on....now we have lots of people who feel they need something to deal with oppression AND with others. We don't sit around the fireplace and chat it up like in less technological times...what do we do?

E-mail
Text
come here
call on cell phones
etc....

People just are forgetting how to be social AND for the same reasons women needed a little "helper" for being oppressed, we are as a society feeling as if we need something to deal with feeling "stuck"---if that makes sense.

It's totally Brave New World....read it if you haven't already

MK

reply to post by mkultraangel


Brave New World...

Yes...its just irksome to see so much of the great dystopic literature playing out in real life...

Originally posted by mkultraangel
Taking medication for "little things" is nothing new....remember the Rolling Stones song "Mother's Little Helper" ---or maybe that wasn't the name of the song, but they said it alot it that song...

Beatles. "Mother's Little Helper" was Valium. There was quite the drug problem (and alcohol problem) for the June Cleaver Mom generation. There was a famous novel about it, "Valley of the dolls" ('dolls' is prescription tranquilizers and uppers)

Since I've had this song stuck in my head all day, I thought I'd post the *a-hem* Rolling Stones lyrics

What a drag it is getting old
"Kids are different today"
I hear ev'ry mother say
Mother needs something today to calm her down
And though she's not really ill
There's a little yellow pill
She goes running for the shelter of a mother's little helper
And it helps her on her way, gets her through her busy day

"Things are different today"
I hear ev'ry mother say
Cooking fresh food for a husband's just a drag
So she buys an instant cake and she burns her frozen steak
And goes running for the shelter of a mother's little helper
And two help her on her way, get her through her busy day

Doctor please, some more of these
Outside the door, she took four more
What a drag it is getting old

"Men just aren't the same today"
I hear ev'ry mother say
They just don't appreciate that you get tired
They're so hard to satisfy, You can tranquilize your mind
So go running for the shelter of a mother's little helper
And four help you through the night, help to minimize your plight

Doctor please, some more of these
Outside the door, she took four more
What a drag it is getting old

"Life's just much too hard today,"
I hear ev'ry mother say
The pursuit of happiness just seems a bore
And if you take more of those, you will get an overdose
No more running for the shelter of a mother's little helper
They just helped you on your way, through your busy dying day

www.sing365.com...

Actually, I don't believe that life is easier today than in any other time in history. Especially after women joined the work force after WWII, and then began to demand the same jobs that were typically filled by men,i.e. construction, jackhammer, roughneck yada yada. There is no time for relaxation anymore, for women or men. Clock in the time clock at work, stay at the job site at least 8 hours, go home get the kids take them to their activities (soccer, dance, piano), go to the grocery story, go home, eat a fast food meal or cook.....you get the picture, every minute of time is sucked up by meeting deadlines. Then, before you know it the kids are grown and depression sets in (empty nest for some) because you realize that you hardly enjoyed your children when they were young. At this age, you start facing health problems and then you spend the next ten years waiting for social security so you can quit work.

I am on antidepressants and spent a bit in a mental hospital because of my life and problems that I just could not deal with. If life were slower paced, then people would not need the meds, but life is demanding not easy. At least, that is my perception.