Is it normal to be medicated

I do think that the diagnosing every little idiosyncrasy as a mental illness or learning disability and prescribing psychiatric drugs has gone overboard in recent years, personally.

I was unfortunately prescribed SSRIs in my early teens and they did absolutely nothing good for me and instead, gave me a ton of negative side effects (extreme fatigue and irritability, slowed metabolism and weight gain, depression to the point of suicidal thoughts, lack of focus, etc.) and severely affected my life in a very negative way during my teen years. I'm absolutely not saying everyone shares this experience and that they're completely bad, but I know a lot of people who have very similar experiences to mine, and I've seen and heard about the things doctors are quick to prescribe psych meds for that seem to be more of an environmental/personal life issue than a result of a brain chemistry imbalance. Of course, I'm no doctor myself, but it seems the mental health crisis is only getting worse, not better, with the current way of doing things, and I'm thinking society has gone too far with diagnoses and prescriptions as well.

It seems that rather than talking through issues and developing a plan to help people work through them, most doctors want to medicate. I completely understand that some things *do* require medication in order to be treated, but this is also happening with minor issues that have more to do with the person's environment or personal life, things that are simply a part of life (such as the awkwardness and self consciousness that often comes with puberty, experiencing anxiety within a normal realm and under understandable conditions, etc.), or even things that are 100% normal and should NOT be changed (I've even heard of recommendations for SSRIs to help overcome fear of participating in activities with a certain element of risk to them; that is 1000000% normal and your brain's way of preventing you from endangering/killing yourself, not to mention that isn't at all what SSRIs are designed for).

What concerns me most is that people seem to lose sight of the fact that these are mind-altering drugs and they can cause serious harm if practically handed out like candy to anyone with a problem in their life. They seem to be viewed almost as cure-alls.

What I've always wondered as well is, whose definition of "normal" is correct? I was considered abnormal because I couldn't read people as well at age 12 as an adult could. What child can!? Funnily enough, now I am told I am excellent at reading people. 🤣 It was as if I was expected to act like a mini 35-year-old, not my actual age of 12 at the time. I was also considered abnormal because I experienced self consciousness and insecurity while going through puberty, and experienced anxiety about very normal things (one being that I had an aging grandparent whose health was failing, and I was very worried about it; what kind of sociopath would consider that abnormal!?). I would like to ask these so-called "professionals" who think like this, exactly what kid going through puberty DOESN'T experience these feelings? What person with a family member that isn't doing well ISN'T anxious about it? So, whose definition of "normal" is textbook and "correct"? What one person grows up with as "normal" is entirely different from another, and no two people are exactly alike. So does everyone that even slightly deviates from one shrink's version of "normal" have a mental illness?

Also, if someone is a bit different, yet it isn't negatively affecting their life, what is the point of medicating it? One entire side of my family has always been known for being "a different breed", yet they have also always been known for leading very successful and happy lives, are excellent in business as well as social and personal relationships, etc. I fail to see the issue with merely being different, and really resent the idea that there is one way and one way only, when every person's view of what is normal is different.

I did have a teacher that told most of the parents of the kids in my class that they should consider getting their kids prescribed Adderall, too. That's a complete shame to me. In no way should the majority of a class of third graders need psychiatric drugs, let alone the same one. Seemed like more of an issue with her poor teaching and leadership skills than with the kids' mental health (and she was terminated about a year later, thankfully).

Sorry to go off on a mile long tangent, but this subject strikes a chord with me, if you couldn't already tell. 🤣 Just in case it was missed before, too: I'm in no way saying the psychology/psychiatry industry and their methods of treatment are all bad, just that I think some of it is overdone and I think there's a better middle ground than what is presently popular.

I'm totally sober. I dont do drugs besides my prescription of hormones that I cant produce on my own.

I dont like drinking, cant do drugs because I wanna be employed. Yeah I'm boring but that just decreases my chances of dying stupidly in my state by 500%

I think somebody's on antidepressants, also we can't be forced to all be the same, that's an issue for normals, and not for weird, quirky and interesting people, I think it's like a bunch of chimps sitting in chairs all day in classrooms, going to school, listening to the teacher, who goes to work, all mimicking all the other children, one weird kid among them all, resulting in pain and trouble up to adulthood from the worker for acting weird, it's far worse in adulthood, when they scare you for being abnormal in general, school just stops at weirdness, but I suppose teachers aren't normal people, their conversations are to teach you, so you learn.

We could be poking eachother with sticks

You need to choose
—————————-
Choose life.
Choose a job.
Choose a career.
Choose a family,
Choose a fucking big television
Choose washing machines, cars,
Compact disc players, and electrical tin openers.
Choose good health, low cholesterol
And dental insurance.
Choose fixed-interest mortgage repayments.
Choose a starter home.
Choose your friends.
Choose leisure wear and matching luggage.
Choose a three piece suite on hire purchase
In a range of fucking fabrics.
Choose DIY and wondering who you
Are on a Sunday morning.
Choose sitting on that couch watching mind-numbing
Sprit-crushing game shows
Stuffing fucking junk food into your mouth.
Choose rotting away at the end of it all,
Pishing you last in a miserable home
Nothing more than an embarrassment to the selfish,
Fucked-up brats
You have spawned to replace yourself.
Choose your future. Choose life.

Nice speech... not to say I disagree. I don't think the issue is competition, though, just the underlying system of constantly working in school. Most of it doesn't matter or go anywhere and you're not getting paid for it. Tests are stressful, college is worse, but you're expected to be happy to have the opportunity even though there are clearly better ways of doing it and we're too rigid to change anything. It's funny that you're often trained in school to ignore common sense when facts say otherwise, but when facts say the system should be changed, we fall back on common sense like "but tests prove that you learned!"

Anyway, I'm not on any meds. Video games have always been and continue to be my anti-drug, even if escapism is questionable when it comes to whether it counts as self-medication.

What kind of pisses me off is that I WANT to conform, but everything is making that hard. Prices for everything are through the roof, higher and higher levels of education are constantly needed for basic jobs, it's harder to meet people without going out of your way and scheduling it, having kids feels dumb unless I get all of the above sorted out but the time it takes to get that all sorted out keeps lengthening unless you rely more and more heavily on bigger and bigger loans. Not to mention spouses with good jobs.

I had a nasty realization that I am in fact med dependent. Its not the same as drug addiction, no. But I had a breakdown for a hot second when I didnt take my medication for 2 days in a row.

I remember in jr. high one of my friends making almost this exact same argument. Still reeks of teen angst

Adderall in the same category as hard drugs? Srsly?

I am offended, good sir. As a coke head I can tell you that I am not in the same category as meth or heroin!

Department of transportation. Anyone that drives a heavy vehicle on the highway is subject to their tight rule.

So to the people who selected that they do at least 2 of the selections. Is it smoking weed and drinking? Or drinking and anti depressants? Curious..

I don't think people who choose to not drink are odd. Alcohol is a social lubricant because people want to interact without feeling awkward. The problem is it can become a trap. It always starts as fun, but can easily turn into a problem. Especially for people with addictive personalities like myself. And especially for women who have been taken advantage of when they had too much to drink like myself. Ugly guys love alcohol because it's the only way for them to get laid when the girl is passed out, (which is called rape btw for all the ugly bastards who stoop this low)
You're right. In that people like to drink maybe with dinner or friends lightly and just for fun socially.
And I hope you're right about people being moral and progressing in the future. We've come this far and it's taken thousands or maybe millions of years to populate the earth. We all need each other, but the governments want to turn us against each other and keep us behind their invisible lines that they drew. We all need each other for trade. War just doesn't make any sense at this point. That's a whole new topic though.

Ya'll fuckin do a lot to not do a lot

Teachers make a bit more than 40k and the average home is a bit less than 400k. But yeah prices have gone up.