If You're Happy and You Know it, Take a Pill
Before I go onto my little rant I would like to state that I am NOT a doctor. Further, I do not have a medical background. I am an average Joe, typical American, and though I am learning more and more everyday about health information by working at Healthline, I speak mostly from the heart.
Remember when being happy was about waking up on Saturday morning to the mild songs of bluebirds, the sun casting a soft light across you as you lay comfortably in your bed feeling the slow breeze in the spring? Maybe enjoy the company and conversation of friends and family?? If you do, you’re dated. As CNN reports, in this week’s special report on ‘Happiness and your Health’, Troy Dayton’s got a different idea about happiness, and I don’t think he is the only one. “Troy Dayton pops a little white pill every morning. He's one of the 10 million Americans taking a daily antidepressant. But in his case, he says he was never depressed in the first place.” Troy states “However someone can sustain a certain level of happiness without hurting someone else, should be celebrated and not questioned.”
Did anyone else read A Brave New World?
Apart from being an extremely lame version of the Electric Kool Aid Test, the problem I have with this Merry Prankster and his desire to be double happy is that it avoids the question ‘What does it mean to be happy/sad?’ which is, essentially, avoiding the idea knowing oneself and what you like/dislike. The human condition is such that we feel elated during positive moments, sad during moments of heartache and fear in moments of danger; this happens for a reason. It's the same reason that we feel pain when we put our hands on a heated stove top – so we learn boundaries and how to survive. There is a lesson to be learned from our sadness (in relationships for instance) and numbing ourselves to this is akin to missing the point.
Further, do we have any idea of the side effects of long-term/sustained use of antidepressants? As Doctor Peter Kramer points out “These medicines are NOT harmless.” Let’s be clear, there are individuals suffering from depression (I have friends that are clinically depressed) and need this medication. The advances in this area have definitely cleared minds and saved some lives. But most of these medicines are means to an end, a way of balancing an unbalanced mind; they are not meant to be the end result or to be a recreational drug. Like the ecstasy that
I think that most people in the world want to be happy but I think following in
4 Comments:
At Tue Nov 28, 01:07:00 PM 2006,
Anonymous said…
I agree with you Kris. Psyco-active RXs should not be taken like benign recreational drugs--a few drinks, a chocolate bar, etc. However, I have two comments:
1. GOOD NEWS: Drugs are used for more than just "being happy".
Beyond, "happiness", these drugs seem help people with pain management through better brain chemistry. I've heard that many people who suffer from chronic pain actually have their brain circuitry "stuck in a bad cycle".
For some, using such meds help people re-wire these circuits. That's why it can help w/ addiction issues, etc. As such people who seem to be "stable" actually can benefit from such medications.
2. BAD NEWS: They're also abused to "get ahead".
I've been told stories of certain over-achiever firms that are full of partners on such drugs. They do it solely so that they can work harder and get ahead. I find this dark and insidious and negative to our society. This is total brave new world stuff....
BTW, I'm no doctor. These are just my musings.
At Wed Dec 20, 11:14:00 AM 2006,
Anonymous said…
What about the blood tests that show the proof positive that some people are "chemically inbalanced"? Happiness is your own personal positive perception of appreciation for the good things in your life. My husband was physically unwell without his antidepressants, but "balanced" with them. When doctors changed his rx to Wellbutrin because they wanted to help him quit smoking, he had a terrible seizure and convulsions that hospitalized him for 3 days. Some people shouldn't be listened to without a grain of salt.
At Sun Dec 24, 05:14:00 PM 2006,
Anonymous said…
I am a doctor, and I am very curious...why does anyone care whether or not a stranger takes a pill that seems to make him feel better? If it appears to you that such medications offer an unfair advantage to those who take them without the benefit of your chosen diagnosis, keep in mind one may even the field by taking them oneself (they do not, by the way, benefit those who do not actually need them; they do, however, offer substantial placebo effects as a result of expectation). Less confusing to me than the easy availability of anti-depressant medication is the attitude of moral superiority exhibited by those who should consider themselves fortunate not to need it. What happened to "live and let live"?
At Wed Jan 24, 05:59:00 AM 2007,
Jolie Bookspan, M.Ed, PhD said…
People need the information to be able to make their own choices. It is like smoking. Smoking used to be prescribed by physicians for the several documented benefits such as improving digestion, calming nerves, helping alertness and weight loss, and more. It is also helpful to know about the two side effects of serious illness and death.
Live and let live? With information!
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