Better Living Thru Chemistry

[ls317]

After having a very interesting conversation last night with several family members.The context of the chat was the use of anti depressants in todays world.I am aware that there several issues and side effects connected to the various stages of mental disorders.Plus I am aware that they really exist for todays society,if left untreated the illness can effect people in a myriad of ways.
I have noticed that more and more folks are being given meds to increase the quality of life for them and others around them.
Issues such as stress.panic attacks, bi polar and various issues can be treated via pill.... These pills have recently hit the market and the companies that produce them there profits have increased ten fold.Here in lies a question that I wondered about during the conversation. I am wondering the numbers in regards to difference in amounts of whites that take this pills,Yes I know that most of them have medical insurance to pay for them.. Where as African Americans.(some) use other things to more less numb the pain within...Drinking,weed etc..and they don't have insurance to pay. I am almost willing to say the numbers in regards to break downs black vs white are very close along the lines of mental issues within a certain race.

Just my two cents

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

1. White people are more likely to recieve anti-depressants...

for a diagnosis of depression. Furthermore, African Americans are more likely to misdiagnosed for something else, schizophrenia for example.

That tends to follow in just about all fields of medicine. African Americans always get the short end of the stick.

As for illicit drug use, it's the same in both whites and blacks.

[ls317]

4. Damn Good Point

As an African American I just recently had your point driven home connected to the death of my grandmother..They said she showed signs of Dementia because of her age...When it was discovered that she had two strokes at the autopsy... and it was discovered that she had advanced Alzeihmers...Which no doctors bothered to even look for signs during towards the end of her life.

[hippiechick]

2. Interesting theory, but I would offer ...

... that there are plenty of whites also who use the other methods you mentioned to 'self treat' - for a variety of reasons (unaware, unwilling, uninsured, etc).

What concerns me is that the pharma companies now offering people who "can't afford" coverage their supposed "plans" ... it makes me wonder if a requirement of getting these low-cost or free meds directly from the maker is that one must agree to trial/yet-unapproved meds, thereby making the lower classes into unwitting 'test subjects' for experimental shit.

:shrug:

[GreenPartyVoter]

3. Well, I am white, bipolar and I self-medicate and am on pills. I am also on MaineCare and was

misdiagnosed for 20 years. I think it is more about those who are poor and uninsured that it necessarily is about race. If I didn't have MaineCare I would go untreated for lack of insurance. I feel very sad to think about how many people out there with mental illness go untreated because they can't afford $300 an hour psychiatrists and $100 a pill meds.

[hobbit709]

5. They are being overused

and many people are being overmedicated. Just went through this with my wife. They had her on about 8 different happy pills and every time she complained that the side effects were causing this that or the other, the Dr. would just add another to the list. She was on antidepressants and antianxiety pills. Then he put her on an antipsychotic because she couldn't sleep(I said WTF), then they put her on one that was primarily an antiseizure(she didn't have seizures). She told the the shrink she wanted to get off some of these and he told her my way or the highway-she chose the highway. I said how does he know what you need, when he had no baseline to compare it to. With the help of her personal physician, it took her about 8 months to get off everything. She still gets mildly depressed(the original problem) but deals with it with the help of her therapist. She no longer wakes up in the middle of the night with nighmares and anxiety attacks, she no longer is a zombie. In fact she has become their worst nightmare at work now that she can think clearly and won't let them pull a fast one with several government programs they work with at the shelter for homeless and abused kids. She gets more done at home and at work becuse she's no longer chemically lobotomized. And it saves her about $250/mo in meds she didn't need.