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Medicine does pretty well with popping my friend out of her psychotic states. But people on the traditional treatment programs never truly get better, they're j

Medicine does pretty well with popping my friend out of her psychotic states. But people on the traditional treatment programs never truly get better, they're just on the treatment merry-go-round for decades. "The Doctor Isn't In" succinctly describes Psychiatry's big problem: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10315705 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10315705

cbd1984 11y ago
> But people on the traditional treatment programs never truly get better, they're just on the treatment merry-go-round for decades. You could say the same thing about a lot of neurological disorders. Or things like Type 1 Diabetes, come to that.
- bjwbell 11y ago
  A lot of people can and do get better. I can't comment on whether traditional treatment works for that or not. Personally I think treating the person is more helpful in the long run.
olliej 11y ago
Your claim that it's a merry-go-round is seemingly based on a misunderstanding of how medicine works. You're right, medication does not necessarily ever stop. But it also never stops for heart disease, diabetes, arthritis, HIV, ... Some conditions can be cured, some conditions can be treated, some conditions require continual changes and adjustments to medications. For example, some people with mental illness can take drugs for a finite amount of time, and eventually come off them and never have to return to them. Similarly some people who have asthma can eventually come off an inhaler and never need it again. Even in those cases, some people in certain stressful situations can still end up needing to go back to the medication (e.g anti-depressant/inhaler) years/decades later. Some people have to stay on their medication forever, either asthmatics and their inhaler, or people with mental illness and their specific meds. For some people different meds are needed, but that applies to a huge array of drugs -- some people have to use specific brands of inhaler, even specific types of insulin, neurological drugs are no different. And if we start looking at the merry-go-round of changing drug regimes, there are other diseases with similar cases, most obviously HIV, where the treatments have to be continually monitored and changed for each individual, and many have to be taken at fixed times. Mental illness is not a unique disease, the challenges of treatment are not dramatically different from all other diseases. It's just a disease, and like any other disease, living with it takes effort.

cbd1984 11y ago

> But people on the traditional treatment programs never truly get better, they're just on the treatment merry-go-round for decades. You could say the same thing about a lot of neurological disorders. Or things like Type 1 Diabetes, come to that.

bjwbell 11y ago
A lot of people can and do get better. I can't comment on whether traditional treatment works for that or not. Personally I think treating the person is more helpful in the long run.

olliej 11y ago

Your claim that it's a merry-go-round is seemingly based on a misunderstanding of how medicine works. You're right, medication does not necessarily ever stop. But it also never stops for heart disease, diabetes, arthritis, HIV, ... Some conditions can be cured, some conditions can be treated, some conditions require continual changes and adjustments to medications. For example, some people with mental illness can take drugs for a finite amount of time, and eventually come off them and never have to return to them. Similarly some people who have asthma can eventually come off an inhaler and never need it again. Even in those cases, some people in certain stressful situations can still end up needing to go back to the medication (e.g anti-depressant/inhaler) years/decades later. Some people have to stay on their medication forever, either asthmatics and their inhaler, or people with mental illness and their specific meds. For some people different meds are needed, but that applies to a huge array of drugs -- some people have to use specific brands of inhaler, even specific types of insulin, neurological drugs are no different. And if we start looking at the merry-go-round of changing drug regimes, there are other diseases with similar cases, most obviously HIV, where the treatments have to be continually monitored and changed for each individual, and many have to be taken at fixed times. Mental illness is not a unique disease, the challenges of treatment are not dramatically different from all other diseases. It's just a disease, and like any other disease, living with it takes effort.