I was diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder (aka Manic Depression) about three months ago. Since I am only 14, I didn't have a choice in starting meds or not. I am a zealot for self-reliance, and hate that I have to depend on medication to get through my weekly-routines. I am totally against it, but there is no way of stopping my medication until I'm 18. I've realized that there are many teens on medication, and it's pretty sad. Are any of you on medication for a mental illness? Do you like it or dislike it?

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If the doors of perception were cleansed every thing would appear to man as it is, infinite.

i know EXACTLY how you feel.
earlier last year my doctor put me on meds for my "extreme anxiety and emotional issues". i hate feeling like i have to take the pills. i stopped for three weeks and totally lost it. everything made me want to scream and yell and cry, so i went back on them. all my friends asaid that without the meds im a total bitch and i hate it.

now i have to be dependant on those the rest of my life just to get through the day without ripping someones head off.

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Imagination is more important than knowledge
Albert Einstein

Yeah! I'm very irritable when I don't take them. But I normally don't eat that much, and the meds make me feel really hungry...it's annoying. I'm gonna get fat LOL jk. But yeah idk. Stupid psychiatry...haha.

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If the doors of perception were cleansed every thing would appear to man as it is, infinite.

Psychriatic drugs definitely fuck with you once you get on them, that is for sure. They have a high risk of dependence, and the physical and mental side effects are apalling.

The fact that doctors are all too eager to prescribe these pills to every person who walks through their doors -- especially teenagers -- is even more apalling.

They say that mental illnesses are on the rise in America, but I don't think that's true; I just think that the diagnosises of these illnesses are up, and so are the precriptions of drugs to treat these various and wide-spanning disorders.

I was diagnosed with attention deficit disorder several years ago. I was given a bottle of pills and was told "take these; they'll make you better". The problem was that I didn't feel sick. I didn't feel that ADD was negatively affected my life. So I refused to take the medicine; in fact, I pretty much fought tooth and nail against them. To this day, I have never taken any medication for my supposed "disorder", and I wouldn't be surprised if my case -- and the cases of many others who have been diagnosed with not only ADD, but any mental disorder -- was a misdiagnosis.

We are the "RX Generation", but it is not our fault.

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I agree with the "doctors are all too eager to prescribe these pills..."etc. It's true. I met with the psychiatrist for about 20 minutes, and he diagnosed me. It was like "Um, never expected that, but okay."

I think it's very sad. I went to this museum in Hollywood a few months back called "Psychiatry: An Industry of Death" and learned a lot of interesting facts about psychiatry (obv) that blew my mind. It's horrible what people used to do, and are still doing.

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If the doors of perception were cleansed every thing would appear to man as it is, infinite.

same with me.
i was only in the doctors office for 30 minutes before she gave me my prescription!

i was like wth? how could you know? but okay, you are the pro....

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Imagination is more important than knowledge
Albert Einstein

my best friend has been suicidal since like grade 6. turns out shes had major depression and bipolar since grade 4. Honestly, it was horrifying when she called me to tell me she broke her arm on purpose to get attention. she spent 2 months in a psych ward in edmonton ab. idk if its diff where you are (im guessing the states?) but she had been seeing counsellors for like 2 years before she was actually diagnosed with everything that is chemically wrong in her brain.

and to answer the hungry guy earlier, she gained like 40 pounds in 3 months after the gave her the pills,but she lost it all by eating healthy and excersize. i know the BIG difference between what she is like without her meds, and what she is like when there is a chemical imbalance in her brain

i was diagnosed with ocd a year and a half ago, luckily, i had the choice, because my parents dont want me to be forced into any sort of treatment.
it can be very irritating at times, but im learning to let go of things, and going to weekly sessions. I don't feel dependant, i just feel like this is something i dont need to complain about, because in the end i will be healthier, and stronger.
seriously, would you rather be insane? its way to much sacrifice!!!

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what you say and what you do
only make me think of you
what can i say,im in love with you
i can only hope you'll love me too...

That's the problem: We assume that these doctors, the professionals that we pay to take care of us, have our best interests in mind. When they prescribe us medication, we take it so that we can get better right?

There's a major implied trust being broken by these doctors who just prescribe a bottle of pills and push us out the door. It's irresponsible, unprofessional, and is having a negative effect on our society.

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But all that said, they do get it right as well sometimes. On my recent trip there was a kid with ADHD, tourettes, and paranoia. At the start of the week he was fine, but on the 2nd day his pill dispenser broke, so he stopped taking his drugs, and by the end of the week he had completely flipped out.

I'e never been properly diagnosed, but anyone who has to spend any length of time with me will know that I have mild OCD. And yes it is a pain in the ass but I'd rather try and keep it controlled myself than take any kind of drugs.

I think the reason that so many of these disorders are being diagnosed now is partly because we've created an environment that perfectly supports them. For example ADHD is probably because there are so many distractions now that never existed before.
Also it's pretty likely that back in time parents would just beat their kids if they showed any of these "weird" behaviours and as such the would have to control it themselves.

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"Pop! Goes The Hamster....And Other Great Microwave Games"

But isn't it reasonable to suggest that this young man had become dependent to these drugs, and as a result when he was forced to stop taking them, he didn't know how to handle it?

Isn't it also reasonable to think that if he had been properly cared for by his doctor, that this dependence might not have been formed, even if it was necessary to prescribe medication? If this is the case, when he did have to stop taking his medication, he might not have broken down like he did.

This obviously can't be assumed for every case, but with so much poor mental treatment being conducted these days, you just can't be sure. And that is a major consequence of this entire issue that I alluded to in my last post: We just can't trust our doctors to make the right choice and give the best treatment to us.

There's something seriously wrong with this country when something like this happens and we have to think "I wonder if his doctor screwed him?"

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