Freud vs. Pfizer
I am a big supporter of Sigmund Freud. His brilliance forever changed the way we looked at ourselves and the world around us. However, in the latter half of the 20th century a war was declared on his beliefs and methods of curing mental imbalance. It's funny how the country that spearheaded a international war on drugs naturally occurring in nature has become so dependent on manufactured pharmaceuticals. Lipitor, Viagra, Cialis, Claritin, Vioxx, Adderall, Ritalin, Clonodine, Paxil, etc. All of these drugs have a specific purpose, and some of them do enable people to live a life which wouldn't been possible without one of these magic pills. But a lot of these pills are just excuses made by people so they don't have to examine the roots of a psychological problem.
Chemistry plays a major role in things, but it is a proven medical fact that internal attitude and optimism can definitely affect the healing process. If someone gives up on life, they will have less of a chance of fighting depression than if they learn how to look at the bright side of life. It's cheesy, I know. To me the worst part of the American Pharmaceutical addiction is that we put our children onto these drugs without letting them grow up. I honestly believe that when someone is put on Ritalin for their ADD at age 10, they will never be able to learn how to focus their energy without the aid of the drug. This is dangerous because it is a basic addiction. We're teaching the kids that medicating your problems is the way to go and that analyzing the causes and triggers for negative behaviours is not important.
I am about as ADD as they come (shouldn't I be working right now?), but Adderall was not this magic cure that caused me to stop focusing on sports and girls and start focusing on school. All it did was make me eat less and drink more water to combat the dehydration that comes from being on 40 mgs of Ampetamines. When I went to the Psychiatrist to get my ADD drugs, I expected to see this sudden change in my study habits and grades. I definitely didn't, I actually think it made things worse because all it did was make my focus concentrate on what I wanted to focus on, and that was never my Political Economics Readings for sure. I did learn a whole hell of a lot about baseball stats and Playboy Playmates, but nothing really about Adam Smith and John Stuart Mill.
The other problem is in the Pharmaceutical industry itself. Even the Daily Show has talked about this, having this stunningly gorgeous girl (miss Florida 2006, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cristin_Duren) who worked as a pharmaceutical sales rep talk about what the companies do to sell the drugs to the public. Most of the drugs that are most famous are the ones that are the most expensive and most advertised, and not necessarily the most effective. This girl, Cristin Duren, could sell me a sailboat in Death Valley or anything else she wanted and I had no use for. They offer the doctors trips to the Bahamas or French Riviera if they get enough patients to take their drugs.
This problem of privatized medicine also extends to the specific ailments that these massive Pharmaceutical companies focus on healing. They spend billions making drugs for Erectile Disfunction when it's not a public health issue. But penis pills really sell. So they spend their money and time and top scientists on these pills that only serve to give one (maybe two) people pleasure without doing anything about their health. How often do you see a commercial for drugs that help to curb anger or ones that combat addiction to food or alcohol? Wouldn't those be so much better for society than giving Hugh Hefner a boner so he can sleep with his three 20 year old girlfriends?
Freud has relevance even if his ideas have been proven to be a little too focused on childhood and parents. I believe in nurture being stronger than nature, that our environment really affects who we are and how we react to our world. Genetics played a role in making me who I am, but I am vastly different from my father because I grew up in a totally different situation than he did. Certain things from my past affect how I act now, like being a fatty in middle school has made me always keep diligent at staying in shape. When I went to Freud's office in Vienna and saw all of his writings and experiments, I really gained a lot of respect for what he did and gave to this world. I just feel very sad that in Psychology 101 classes in college, they are now claiming that everything he said was wrong, because it isn't. Drugs aren't the only answer, one has to work on themselves before a drug will really alter them. It's basically like putting the blame on "god" instead of taking responsibility for your own betterment. That is why I'm no longer on my pharmaceuticals, and if you've been on them for a while, try taking a month off to find your true center and see how much better that feels than 20 mgs of Paxil 3 times a day.
Chemistry plays a major role in things, but it is a proven medical fact that internal attitude and optimism can definitely affect the healing process. If someone gives up on life, they will have less of a chance of fighting depression than if they learn how to look at the bright side of life. It's cheesy, I know. To me the worst part of the American Pharmaceutical addiction is that we put our children onto these drugs without letting them grow up. I honestly believe that when someone is put on Ritalin for their ADD at age 10, they will never be able to learn how to focus their energy without the aid of the drug. This is dangerous because it is a basic addiction. We're teaching the kids that medicating your problems is the way to go and that analyzing the causes and triggers for negative behaviours is not important.
I am about as ADD as they come (shouldn't I be working right now?), but Adderall was not this magic cure that caused me to stop focusing on sports and girls and start focusing on school. All it did was make me eat less and drink more water to combat the dehydration that comes from being on 40 mgs of Ampetamines. When I went to the Psychiatrist to get my ADD drugs, I expected to see this sudden change in my study habits and grades. I definitely didn't, I actually think it made things worse because all it did was make my focus concentrate on what I wanted to focus on, and that was never my Political Economics Readings for sure. I did learn a whole hell of a lot about baseball stats and Playboy Playmates, but nothing really about Adam Smith and John Stuart Mill.
The other problem is in the Pharmaceutical industry itself. Even the Daily Show has talked about this, having this stunningly gorgeous girl (miss Florida 2006, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cristin_Duren) who worked as a pharmaceutical sales rep talk about what the companies do to sell the drugs to the public. Most of the drugs that are most famous are the ones that are the most expensive and most advertised, and not necessarily the most effective. This girl, Cristin Duren, could sell me a sailboat in Death Valley or anything else she wanted and I had no use for. They offer the doctors trips to the Bahamas or French Riviera if they get enough patients to take their drugs.
This problem of privatized medicine also extends to the specific ailments that these massive Pharmaceutical companies focus on healing. They spend billions making drugs for Erectile Disfunction when it's not a public health issue. But penis pills really sell. So they spend their money and time and top scientists on these pills that only serve to give one (maybe two) people pleasure without doing anything about their health. How often do you see a commercial for drugs that help to curb anger or ones that combat addiction to food or alcohol? Wouldn't those be so much better for society than giving Hugh Hefner a boner so he can sleep with his three 20 year old girlfriends?
Freud has relevance even if his ideas have been proven to be a little too focused on childhood and parents. I believe in nurture being stronger than nature, that our environment really affects who we are and how we react to our world. Genetics played a role in making me who I am, but I am vastly different from my father because I grew up in a totally different situation than he did. Certain things from my past affect how I act now, like being a fatty in middle school has made me always keep diligent at staying in shape. When I went to Freud's office in Vienna and saw all of his writings and experiments, I really gained a lot of respect for what he did and gave to this world. I just feel very sad that in Psychology 101 classes in college, they are now claiming that everything he said was wrong, because it isn't. Drugs aren't the only answer, one has to work on themselves before a drug will really alter them. It's basically like putting the blame on "god" instead of taking responsibility for your own betterment. That is why I'm no longer on my pharmaceuticals, and if you've been on them for a while, try taking a month off to find your true center and see how much better that feels than 20 mgs of Paxil 3 times a day.
posted by Dan Pasternack at 11:03 AM
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