What can be said to such a story? I have worked with the severely mentally ill for many years. I know what "crazy" is like, and I've seen the anguish of the families who watch their loved ones become strangers to them. I have sat in the offices of psychiatrists and seen drug company reps -- young ladies with high heels and short skirts carrying samples and everything from pads of paper to wall clocks advertising their wares -- strut in like peacocks, oblivious to the suffering people sitting around them. I have talked to people who were put on medications that caused their conditions to worsen, who were not believed by whoever was providing their care until it was almost too late.

And yet. And yet. I have met some incredibly brilliant, dedicated, and kind psychiatrists who choose to work for far less money than their specialization is worth because they want to help the poor. I have met dozens and dozens of clients whose lives have been made infinitely better and sometimes even saved by the psychotropic medications they take, including the ones mentioned in this article.

So what to make of a story like this one? Here's what I would suggest:

1. Be an advocate for yourself. Do not go into a doctor's office (any doctor!) and blindly accept his or her diagnosis or prognosis or prescription. Research, but be careful not to believe everything you read on either side of the issue, especially on the internet. For every horror story, there are many many more in between.

2. If you are not pleased with the way your medication is working for you, either get your doctor to help you change or eliminate it, or get a new doctor.

But BUT 3. If you are suffering or your family member is suffering from depression or psychosis or any of the other innumerable psychiatric ailments that can destroy lives, DON'T read this article and conclude that medications are all or always the wrong choice, because sometimes they save lives.

I'm expecting that this thread is going to include a number of posts trashing all medications, especially antidepressants, as unnecessary in the least and harmful at the worst. And there are stories like this one to demonstrate aptly that they are clearly no panacea and should not be taken lightly. However, there are equally harrowing anecdotes I could tell about what happens when families in denial refuse to allow their mentally ill charges to take the medications they need to stop a worsening depression or treat a psychosis spiraling out of control. So I worry every time Salon publishes an article on this topic -- how many people read these articles and read our understandably angry responses and continue in the hell of mental illness because they take an anecdote to be proof positive that there is no help for them?

Calm down guys. The folks who dreamed this up are hotel execs who want to make a few extra bucks by capitalizing on fear. Seen that about three zillion times. Do not confuse this with a concerted effort by the women's movement to instigate some form of reverse discrimination or some mysterious cabal of networking businesswomen (most businesswomen know very well that they won't benefit much by networking exclusively with other women). To recap: not everything marketed towards women was dreamed up by women, and nothing dreamed up by or purchased by some women is indicative of the attitudes of women as a whole.

Personally I think the idea is noxious because it relies on the perpetuation of fear and facile assumptions about gender differences. It is further proof that there is a chicken-meet-egg relationship between gender ideology and corporate power.

I know exactly how hard it is to advocate for yourself when you are ill and on medications, because I and my bi-polar partner have both had to do it, and I have watched countless others do it as well. You have my sympathies.

By all means, speak your truth! Hearing stories like yours helps all of us to remember that the folks in the white coats are just as human and fallible and potentially corruptible as the rest of us. That makes us all more informed, more careful, and more questioning consumers. More power to ya'. Just because I also know stories that go the other way, where fear of medications is what caused the tragedy, doesn't mean that your story is not also extremely important.