Most patients I treat with psychiatric medication for the first time express some ambivalence about it. On one hand, they truly want relief from their symptoms. Understandably, though, they struggle psychologically with the idea that they are taking medication.
When medication finally does relieve their symptoms, most patients are unhesitatingly pleased even though they still would prefer not to be relying on pills to feel better.
I distinctly remember once treating a woman who had a more extreme psychological reaction to her own recovery than do most patients with whom I’ve worked.
She was suffering from depression. She had no previous psychiatric history and had never previously taken psychiatric medication, but she had been symptomatic for at least a couple of years. After assessing her, I prescribed an antidepressant, and it worked. Within a few weeks, her symptoms were much improved, and she was functioning significantly better.
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I really like this topic. I always have and still do believe that personal growth is a good thing. I think of it this way: I’m not trying to compare myself to anyone else, but I know that I am a better person in many ways today than I was a few years ago. I’d like to continue through life this way.
I’ve never really seen any harm in approaching life with the idea that continual self-improvement is a positive. But an article, “I am all I have” from Frits de Lange, a professor of ethics in the Netherlands questions whether this self-improvement culture of today is contributing to the epidemic of depression.
Here’s an excerpt:
…the emergence of the depression must somehow be connected with the moral dictate of neoliberal culture that requires the individual to take his fate into his own hands. The fact that each individual is personally responsible for making himself into someone who amounts to something in the eyes of others and in his own, may be the ultimate
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