Originally posted by: madthumbs
A good friend can replace a psychotherapist imho. This isn't to say you shouldn't see a psycologist, but you should "try" to be a good friend to someone that may need one. I have fealt chemically imbalanced and used Paxil to get happy for a while. There is a withdrawal to it though.
You have your terms mixed up. Psychologists don't ever prescribe medication, except in the odd case of some in Arizona where the state has altered laws to that effect. Psychiatrists are MDs and prescribe meds, and offer little to no help in terms of psychotherapy.
Psychologists/psychotherapists are the ones you actually "talk" to about your problems. Sure, in some minor cases a friend offering his/her shoulder to cry on may help, but in cases of more severe disorders unless that friend is trained in methods to diagnose and treat said disorders it's possible they will do more harm than good. What if your "friend" had no idea how to deal with someone who is depressed to the point of being suicidal and makes it worse?
Also, what do you mean you "felt" chemically imbalanced? You mean your doctor told you that your depression or anxiety was possibly due to a chemical imbalance and gave you Paxil to fix it, right? GAD and depression can be alleviated with ways other than medication because the whole "chemical imbalance" issue is a lot more rare of an occurance than the medical industry likes us to believe. If more people tried therapy and alternative treatments, there would be a lot fewer college students on antidepressants and a lot fewer teens on Adderall.
Whatever happens, the worst thing to do to anyone is tell them "hey you should get on X medication." Scientists are still trying to figure out how SSRIs work, because the effects of each particular drug can be completely different from person to person. For example, I know plenty of people who do fine on one med alone, i.e. Paxil. Others get fixed after being on Wellbutrin. Some are more difficult. At one time, I was on paxil, wellbutrin, depakote, and neurontin to help me sleep.
As much as we'd like to put our faith in modern science, the majority of the human brain's functioning is still a mystery to us. I'm a big advocate of working through most mental issues rather than throwing medication at the problems until they go away.
edit: I agree with Sust, above. He makes some good points, in particular the necessity of combination therapy/medication for severe cases. Extremely severe illnesses are very rare, however, and as such my original point stands that the majority of "disorders" can be fixed without the need for medication.
:sun:
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