Letters to the Editor
speeder
Published Letters: 130 Editor's Choice: 12
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@patrick
[Read the article: Don't be happy, worry]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Yes, I think we do have a different concept of perfection. While this may sound stupid, mine is a bit more "perfectionistic." But, just as important I think is that I don't necessarily think perfection is attainable, so the fact that our backs aren't perfect doesn't really bother me as much as you may think it does. I probably should make it clear that for all my pro SSRI talk, I'm not trying to advocate a society driven towards making some techno hybrid "perfect" human. I don't mean the following as an insult, but it is the only way I can explain my feelings; your idea of perfection (the back, the mind etc) just seems a bit too, "Candide" for my tastes. I don't need perfection, I just think that we can make the whole process a little better, and that as we solve problems, new ones will present themselves.
In the first world, and even in most of the developing world we have solved the general problem of freezing to death (in general - obviously there are accidents as well as a portion of the population not reaping the same benefits as the rest of society) As we solve that problem, we move on to the next thing. Technology and medicine are part of this process. I basically am parroting a hierarchy of needs mentality for the whole of society. Part of the reason that I think mental illness is so prevalant today, is that it's symptoms only really expose themselves as you get closer to the top of the pyramid.
As for other aspects of your argument - the idea that the depressed represent oracles or prophets I have only a few things to say.
First I haven't read much Foucault, always have meant to, but the stack of books on my bedside table is always growing and I never seem to keep up. The only promise I can make is that I probably will read some of his stuff in depth before I finally tackle Gravity's Rainbow.
But I understand your general point. I wonder though, how often the street oracle felt as valued as you say, and how often was he case of someone being held up as an example of "virtue" by a comfortable elite, all the while his fellow peasants derided him, and he was given no true respect.
Second, I question, of those oracles and prophets, how many were actually stating something? For every Jonah, Jesus or Buddha were there thousands and thousands pf people basically babelling? And if you mean that the ones babelling nonsensically were more like signposts telling others society had gone wrong, then I can't help but put myself in the place of those babellers and think - "Why must I suffer just to be a warning to people?'
Finally, I still am not quite sure you understand depression, because my experiences with depression do not lead me to think that had I lived long ago I would have made some oracle or what not. Depressed people are not crazy. And very often they are able to mask their depression very effectively so that no one around them knows. It is often a private affair in the lives of many people, creative, scientific etc. one which I personally am afraid many people have suffered from quietly for thousands of years all the while wearing the face of a normal existence, only to out of nowhere commit suicide, spiral into alcoholism, or simply retreat from all they care about in the world.
And this is why I fear the attacks on SSRI's.
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@tina
[Read the article: Don't be happy, worry]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I think there are perfectly healthy people who benefit from prudent drug use of different kinds. You don't have to prove to me that you are sick.
Then what in the world have you been talking about? If you really believed that I think you would leave this thread and go post on a legalize/normalize drugs thread.
You say the lying is what bothers you, but you continued to equate SSRI's with other drugs even after you stated you understood the difference. No one uses SSRI's to get a high or as recreational drugs. They take days to kick in and they provide no buzz at all. Anyone who is taking SSRI's trying to get high is wasting their money. As another poster said, yes they have street value - they have street value because some some people can not afford to go to a Dr. to get a prescription (or they don't want a paper trail of a depression diagnosis.) Hell, the entire point of the article was that SSRI's are too common!
Secondly you continue to blur the line between dependency and addiction. And I am starting to think you know you are doing it. Yes newer SSRI's like Paxil can have withdrawl symptoms (something Prozac almost never had because of it's longer half life.) But this does not mean that one is addicted. These are basic definitions, you may think they are stupid and semantic, but they are important.
Finally, why is it so important for you that we not be sick? Why is it important that everyone have complete control of their own psyche? Does it scare you that your own moods may at times be outside your own control? That you may not even have complete control of your own body? Does it frighten you to consider the fact that at times your conscious may have no more control over what you experience than a person strapped to a roller coaster?
The SSRI's give me control back. (what little control any of us actually have in the world)