Are Americans too medicated to take back their country?

I just had this wild-hair question pop into my head.

(Of course, I'm talking about legal pharmaceuticals used to alter mental states)

I just stick to the herb. St. John's Wort, silly! (and a little bit of...) :)

I think American Idol is on.

I am too bloated and gassy to take back my country right now, but I'll get on it tomorrow or Monday. Probably Monday.

That's what keeps us on the sofa.

After all, if they can't eat it, watch it, drive it or f*ck it - it's nothing worth knowing. That includes the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.

Medicated? No.

It's fluff, but still so much better than any of the sleazy reality shows, not to mention 95% of the brain-dead sitcoms and smutty soaps that dominated TV from abou 1980-1995.

TV is a vast wasteland, but why the extra hate for "Idol"? It's basically an updated "Star Search", and it seems harmless compared to a lot of the real crap out there...

into a glassy-eyed stupor. Truth be told I dislike the "reality" shows that feature people being catty behind one another's backs and screwing one another over to "win" more than I do AI. But I just used AI since it's generally the most popular and recognizable.

it is oddly.....endearing :D

I heartily recommend it.

I see you are in Texas - alas, so am I. On which channel do you see it?

I watched most of them by downloading torrents.

I'm sure there are a ton of clips on Youtube if you search "trailer park boys"

I turned my TV off years ago, I can claim truthfully, I have never once watched American Idol. I also do not take any medications other than an occassional asprin, or cold medication prn. OMG I am a FREAK!!

I was slung into a hypermanic state by self-medicating my depression. The only thing that works for me is legal
pharmaceuticals. I'm on the maximum dose of two different kinds. Care to do a search for my posts to see if I'm
too "medicated"?

Anti-depressants don't dull the senses -- they do the reverse.

nonsense people post about anti-depressants and the people who take them.

It kind of offends me when people wax eloquent criticizing medication and trivializing the seriousness of mental disorders, including clinical depression.

I think part of it is because a lot of people have never experienced it. People talk about depression any time they are in a bad mood. They don't know what its like to not even realize you don't feel the things that other human beings feel - because you've never felt them. They don't know what is like to realize that, in all honestly, you've never known what it feels like to actually feel happy. A lot of people don't know what its like to live in a constant state of dread that comes from a genuine persistent anxiety disorder. But to help you out - have you ever had a panic attack? Imagine that as your baseline state.

I know what these things are like because I am a social worker. But more importantly, I know what these things are like because, until I finally received medical care, I lived them. My problems aren't "all in my head." They aren't about not having good coping skills or not taking enough control of my own destiny. It is a chemical imbalance.

My physician put it very well - he said, "telling people to just stop suffering from clinical depression is like telling a diabetic to just make more insulin."

What troubles me the most about people who really pooh pooh mental disorders such as depression and look down on a person as "weak" or "misguided" who receives medication is that it reinforces a social stigma that is absolutely wrong - that depression is "not really a problem" and if you feel bad you just need to "walk it off" or get over yourself or chew herbs or something. This is what keeps so many people from getting help for so long.

For me, once my doctors and I found the right medication for my condition -- I can't describe for you what its like to be thirty years old, and not even KNOW that a normal person didn't live in a constant state of feeling dread all the time - I didn't even realize that's probably what I should call the feeling until after I got medication. I just called it "normal." I had no idea that a person didn't have to feel the weight or the looming sadness or dread that I felt.

By the way... people like this are all around you. I was a successful project manager in a high tech company, then community organizer, then campaign manager. But my quality of life, when not "presenting" for everyone else was not that great.

Without meds, I would be completely nonfunctional, or possibly dead by suicide. I have contemplated it before. One can only take so much internal pain and hopelessness. There is also a genetic predisposition for depression in my family; great-grandma was a suicide.

Anti-depressants and therapy are all that stand between me and the infinite well of madness.

Depression is pain that doesn't reach the nerve endings. Anyone who thinks "dulling it" is dulling down the experiencer
has never felt pain.

:hippie: :smoke:

Not on a grand scale at least.

A lot of people are upset about it all, but only post online.

A lot of people are too busy working 3 jobs to read the news or deal with anything other than trying to live.

A lot of people get their news from the local paper or network TV channel, and therefore don't know that anything is wrong.

Some have become indifferent by their elected politicians in 2006 doing nothing about Iraq/Afghanistan.

Some are indifferent because their elected politicians that ran against corruption are corrupt.

Some only have one issue, and as long as that one doesn't look threatened, they are happy. (guns, abortion, etc)

Some are probably medicated into not caring, but I think there's a whole lot of other reasons that millions aren't marching. And as much as it sucks, it's probably because things aren't bad enough yet.

(Or, that's my thought on it at least)

:)

And like victims of abuse, we are beaten down mentally via daily grind and stress of making a living in our social structure. I really do see Americans as victims of abuse. Our politicians have sold us into corporate slavery and what else can we do but self medicate?

..Republicans and the corprats who bought the rest of the politicans (Dems too) are the abuser/batterer. You'd be surprised the similarities in the 'relationship' - or, maybe you wouldn't.

So, they don't try.

Plus, they're too busy just keeping their heads above water to do much about anything. And in what spare time they do have, they're too distracted with American Idol and Britney Spears' latest exploit to care.

Most people are chained to jobs that they can't afford to lose and so they aren't willing to take any risks.

The powers that be have got us all EXACTLY where they want us. :grr: