So I think that I finally know what question I want to cover for my (ahhh!) Junior Theme. While it's taken me a long time and a lot of confusion, I think I've got it at last.
Why, as a nation, do we believe that prescription drugs can alleviate our mental health problems?
Of course, I haven't run this question by Doc O'C or Mr. Bolos, and I'll probably end up changing it six more times before coming to a final final conclusion, but I like it! And I definitely feel like it's based on a true American stigma. The "American Dream" defines not only American ideals for things like what social class you shoul belong to, what kind of car you should drive, when you should marry, how many children you should have, and what kind of occupations are considered "success," but it also defines another aspect of the ideal American's life: their mental health.
After beginning to read Elizabeth Wurtzel's Prozac Nation, I find it clear that through Wurtzel's eyes, prescription antidepressants do much more to a person's life than just solve depression-related problems. In fact, they create just as many problems as they solve. With each drug she's placed on, Elizabeth seems to need another drug to counteract its negative side effects.
"I take two little green and white Prozac capsules when I leave his office, and dutifully resume taking a twice-daily dose of lithium, also downing twenty milligrams of Inderal each day- a beta-blocker normally used to lower blood pressure- because I need it to counteract the hand shaking and the other tremorous side effects of lithium. Taking drugs breeds more drugs" (19).
All of this, to me, begged the question why do we think that drugs will solve all of our problems? While I have no idea what the answer to this question is, I look forward to pursuing it in my Junior Theme. It's a problem that's really prevalent in America, and while I try really hard to take as few medicines as possible, it's easy to see the over-use around me. Especially when dealing with something as fragile as the human brain and its emotions, it's scary to think that over-prescription and over-use are so common.
After beginning to read Elizabeth Wurtzel's Prozac Nation, I find it clear that through Wurtzel's eyes, prescription antidepressants do much more to a person's life than just solve depression-related problems. In fact, they create just as many problems as they solve. With each drug she's placed on, Elizabeth seems to need another drug to counteract its negative side effects.
"I take two little green and white Prozac capsules when I leave his office, and dutifully resume taking a twice-daily dose of lithium, also downing twenty milligrams of Inderal each day- a beta-blocker normally used to lower blood pressure- because I need it to counteract the hand shaking and the other tremorous side effects of lithium. Taking drugs breeds more drugs" (19).
All of this, to me, begged the question why do we think that drugs will solve all of our problems? While I have no idea what the answer to this question is, I look forward to pursuing it in my Junior Theme. It's a problem that's really prevalent in America, and while I try really hard to take as few medicines as possible, it's easy to see the over-use around me. Especially when dealing with something as fragile as the human brain and its emotions, it's scary to think that over-prescription and over-use are so common.
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