Odd Logic by the Anti-Medication Crowd

Posted on August 15, 2011 in Mania Psychotropics

The anti-medication crowd among us bipolars sounds off in a strident voice. Medications, they tell us, are little more than an attempt by the pharmaceuticals industry to enslave us. According to them, psychotropics kill us and prevent us from experiencing the full impact of our glorious emotions ((Fuck you, [[Thomas Szasz]].)) . Psychiatrists are predators who don’t know how to cure people, only get them addicted.

Sometimes, their arguments betray a certain loss of reality as does this gem from a comment by an anti-med proponent:

Consider for example: “Drugs Work” because “We Tried Drug X on patient Y” and “Effect Z happened in response to Drug X tried on patient Y” and “We Liked What We Saw” and “We Are The Sole Arbiters Of What We Like” therefore “We are Right” and “We Know What We Are Doing” and “Drug X has effect Z” and “People like patient Y need Drug X” and “We Can Supply Drug X” so “Patient Y should get Drug X from us on a perpetual basis” is not explicitly circular, but if you try to complete the logical dependencies, logical circularities will result or else the explanation will grow out of control. Any thoughts on this kind of thinking?

Did you follow that? Later, when the talk turns to statistics:

[C]onsider these: 100% of dead people who have taken medication have died. 0% of living people who have not taken medication have died. Living people who have been given medication may die, and almost certainly will. So, based on these statistics, should we be offering medication?

This writer thinks he has hit on a profundity. I think it illustrates the tragic loss of rationality that can afflict us in mania.