More healthy debate!

TTWS reader Mike responds to the article EVS sent in. He has fairly dire predictions for Donald.

It’s a sad and scary story. Clearly he needs help and people need to be protected but I don’t think it’s as simply as yay he got meds. He will be chemically restrained, will endure horrid side effects, and be put at risk for tardive dyskinesia. Over a period of months or years he will lose drive, motivation, cognitive functioning, the capacity for joy, and much of his humanity. Statistically his life will be shortened by 25 years. He will risk fatal side effects from medications. He will have breakthrough psychosis CAUSED by the meds. He will frequently go off his meds and will be even more psychotic/dangerous because of rebound issues (much worse than his baseline state). He will have a worse prognosis than his unmedicated counterparts who receive different forms of treatment. Again, society needs to be protected, thoughtful pharmacotherapy has its role but these are very difficult and complex issues that can’t be reduced to “just say yes.”

I disagree. First of all, we don’t know what will happen, so such declarative statements don’t sit well with me. Secondly, the poor man was homeless, seriously delusional, and was swinging from violent to catatonic to despairing. When they arrested him, he was soaked in his own urine. Those of us whose, um, hygiene has suffered similarly while ill–we know how horrible that is. To be in your own filth; it’s humiliating, crushing. It’s hard to imagine, as Mike suggests, that getting treatment for his disease will make Donald’s life significiantly worse than it was. It may still be a crap life after he gets meds, but it won’t necessarily be more craptacular than it was before.

Mental illness is so different for every person. If all the things Mike says are true for every person who’s been hospitalized and medicated, how does that explain me? I take serious doses of antipsychotic medications and have for many years. I don’t have tardive dyskinesia, do not have horrid side effects, have lost none of my drive, motivation or capacity for joy. I would venture to say I’ve gained humanity, not lost it.

Recovery is possible. I really believe that. Why do we condemn this man we don’t know to such a tragic fate? Merely because he’s going to the hospital rather than to prison?

Being in a hospital is far better than being in prison. That’s a declarative statement I’m comfortable with.

liz | 4:37 PM | Uncategorized