Family problems, a job teaching mildly retarded children, and a plain-old Jewish penchant for angst has a friend of mine suffering from insomnia a couple times a week.
So, like most anyone, she recently went to her doctor to see if there was anything he could prescribe. For the short term he gave her some Valium and even a few Klonopin to take when her anxiety got too bad, but warned her that these are really dangerous drugs and could become habit forming. For the long-term, he suggested she try an antidepressant to deal with her stress, claiming that antidepressants were far less dangerous than anti-anxiety medications because antidepressants are not habit forming.
I had the same experience last year, when, for some inexplicable reason I was experiencing, by far, the worst PMS. Ever. I was a monster lady, but for only a day or two out of the month. I too asked my doctor if there was anything I could have to help me. She suggested I go on a daily low-dose anti-depressant for PMDD (medicaleez for really, really, bad PMS). I declined. After all, my problems weren’t with me all month.
It seems these days that people are no longer trusted to handle minor day-to-day mental health glitches. More and more, people are given a “real” diagnosis that goes far beyond “bad day” and a daily dose of something-or-other. This phenomenon can be felt all around us: in our relationships and our media. Who doesn’t know at least a handful of people on antidepressants? Who hasn’t seen a commercial on TV for an antidepressant, and thought, “Hey, I have that problem”?
Even music is starting to convey the story of lives hooked on daily-dose antidepressants. A recent article on Pitchfork Media says that rock music, once a virtual paean to recreational drug use, is now increasingly discussing the legitimate use of pharmaceuticals—In 40 years we’ve gone from the Stones’ Mother’s Little Helper to a Bright Eyes’ song that says, “prescription pills, well I take two a day to make my brain behave." How boring can we get?
So this begs the question, what exactly is dangerous drug use and what is a habit? Is taking a Valium, say, twice a week, somehow more dangerous or more of a habit than taking an antidepressant every single day, perhaps for years and years? Why the big push for daily doses of antidepressants for problems that aren’t experienced every day? Probably because daily-dose drugs are much more profitable for pharmaceutical companies to sell.
It seems that people are giving up control of their moods and being sucker-punched into taking a daily med. What’s wrong with a bit of self-medication from time-to-time? Choosing your own mood or mood enhancer can be healthy. Even my doctor agrees. After declining my request for a few Valium, she asked “How about a martini?”
LINKS
“Valium (generic name: diazepam), which, when it went on the market, in 1963, quickly became the first real blockbuster drug, the Prozac of its day. Between 1969 and 1982, it was the most heavily prescribed drug in America, nearly as ubiquitous in medicine cabinets as shaving cream or aspirin.”. LINK. (The New Yorker)
“Legal drugs have been making rare appearances through the history of rock n’ roll—even back to its earliest days.” LINK (Pitchfork Media)
