But it is modern! We already have germ theory, we know about inoculation and have a hazy idea that our endocrine system is very important. And yes, here is where all your words ring true.
I used to be way more sceptical towards any brain-chemistry-tampering compound, as I prejudged doctors to behave as they are next to an assembly line, prescribing chemicals based on archaic formulas. I’d hate to be stuck in a half-zen state married to some foreign chemistry with myriads of side effects. That is what I was seeing.
Then a friend had a pretty graceful mental breakdown. He couldn’t sleep and he institutionalized himself farely quickly. Rivotril or something along those lines let him sleep. And then he was put on antidepressants (seratonin reuptake inhibitors , if I’m not mistaken, which was a huge bogeyman for me), was gliding on them for about a month or so, then weened off. I was seriously surprised that such an episode can be handled so well and so quickly without any residual medicating.
I think they didn’t fix the underlying issues, but were able to unlock a cramp. I believe my friend has a fresh chance to figure out what brought him to that type of collapse and adjust his life accordingly.
All this said, even with the shittiest medications, it can definitely be worth being locked into some medicine than being a pool of dysfunction lying on the floor or causing major harm to your loved ones. I mean a good ayahuasca session gets a person pretty far, but not everything can be psychosomatic.
You are right to judge, but better off appreciating how far we come. Also thank you for expressing your opinion on it. I almost came in with an ‘acktchually’ after reading the comic, even though I agree and it resonates, it’s such a delicate topic. I guess you got dosed with my contrarianism instead of OP!
It has improved since the dark ages, but it’s still the same approach. Trial and error. And we still treat many illnesses by poisioning the body and hoping we kill the disease before the patient (chemotherapy, and actually antibiotics), just like leeches. And most treatments aren’t even specifically delivered to the site of the issue. We swallow them and let themspread everywhere. So we have to take way more to get the concentration we need where we need it.
You need look no further than at the abysmal suscess rate of stage 3 trials to see that they have no idea what a medication will do to most of the body.
We can split the atom, walk on the moon, and annilate every human on the planet. But we can’t even reliably cure a headache, or even stop pain. We can dull your mind so you don’t care about the pain with addictive substances that have lots of side effects, or we can knock you out (and only most of the time wake you up).
We need more understanding. We need better diagnostic tooling. We don’t even have a non-invasive way to reliably tell if an illness is viral or bacterial for a reasonable enough price to use it often.
But it is modern! We already have germ theory, we know about inoculation and have a hazy idea that our endocrine system is very important. And yes, here is where all your words ring true.
I used to be way more sceptical towards any brain-chemistry-tampering compound, as I prejudged doctors to behave as they are next to an assembly line, prescribing chemicals based on archaic formulas. I’d hate to be stuck in a half-zen state married to some foreign chemistry with myriads of side effects. That is what I was seeing.
Then a friend had a pretty graceful mental breakdown. He couldn’t sleep and he institutionalized himself farely quickly. Rivotril or something along those lines let him sleep. And then he was put on antidepressants (seratonin reuptake inhibitors , if I’m not mistaken, which was a huge bogeyman for me), was gliding on them for about a month or so, then weened off. I was seriously surprised that such an episode can be handled so well and so quickly without any residual medicating.
I think they didn’t fix the underlying issues, but were able to unlock a cramp. I believe my friend has a fresh chance to figure out what brought him to that type of collapse and adjust his life accordingly.
All this said, even with the shittiest medications, it can definitely be worth being locked into some medicine than being a pool of dysfunction lying on the floor or causing major harm to your loved ones. I mean a good ayahuasca session gets a person pretty far, but not everything can be psychosomatic.
You are right to judge, but better off appreciating how far we come. Also thank you for expressing your opinion on it. I almost came in with an ‘acktchually’ after reading the comic, even though I agree and it resonates, it’s such a delicate topic. I guess you got dosed with my contrarianism instead of OP!
It has improved since the dark ages, but it’s still the same approach. Trial and error. And we still treat many illnesses by poisioning the body and hoping we kill the disease before the patient (chemotherapy, and actually antibiotics), just like leeches. And most treatments aren’t even specifically delivered to the site of the issue. We swallow them and let themspread everywhere. So we have to take way more to get the concentration we need where we need it. You need look no further than at the abysmal suscess rate of stage 3 trials to see that they have no idea what a medication will do to most of the body. We can split the atom, walk on the moon, and annilate every human on the planet. But we can’t even reliably cure a headache, or even stop pain. We can dull your mind so you don’t care about the pain with addictive substances that have lots of side effects, or we can knock you out (and only most of the time wake you up). We need more understanding. We need better diagnostic tooling. We don’t even have a non-invasive way to reliably tell if an illness is viral or bacterial for a reasonable enough price to use it often.